


Journey's End

by Crystalliced



Series: Journey's End [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Boss Fights, Competition, F/M, Gaming, Last Stand, Magic, Murder, Survival, Swordsfighting, Teenagers, Virtual Reality, fighting to the death, instability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-03-16 17:29:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 82,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3496769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalliced/pseuds/Crystalliced
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the beginning of the end.</p><p> </p><p>     Game Over is such a peculiar thing.  </p><p>     A temporary nuisance, at best.  A few clicks at most, and you’ve loaded your last save point and prepared yourself for a second round.</p><p>     Because, after all, you’ve learned, through death.  You know what happened, and why you died.  With this second chance, you will take what you learned and apply it to your new strategy.  If you mess up, or the obstacle you face adapts, you lose.  Again.  So what?  You can just keep trying, over and over again. </p><p>    But in a real fight, there is no second chance to fall back on, and a Game Over means permanent death in a temporary life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Battle Trance - Floor 1

 Game Over is such a peculiar thing.  

   A temporary nuisance, at best.  A few clicks at most, and you’ve loaded your last save point and prepared yourself for a second round.

   Because, after all, you’ve learned, through death.  You know what happened, and why you died.  With this second chance, you will take what you learned and apply it to your new strategy.  If you mess up, or the obstacle you face adapts, you lose.  Again.  So what?  You can just keep trying, over and over again.

   But in a real fight, there is no second chance to fall back on, and a Game Over means permanent death in a temporary life.

  This is the world you have stumbled upon, and there is no return.  You are here to live, to fight, to survive.   Five thousand of you will start out, raised to fight, to survive, and in the end, very few of you will be left.  You will need bravery, intelligence, and cunning to make it out of this...So will you hide?  Or will you push through, to defeat the odds, to stand firm against all that oppose you?

   Your life is in your hands now, Tyler.  Let’s see what you do with it.

   Spawning character...

* * *

 

 

     I dodge a fireball expelled from the cannon-like mouth of the (relatively!) high-level monster I'm currently fighting, dashing to the side as the deadly orbs fly past me.  I'm finally free, away from the watchful eyes of the NPCs that regulated my childhood, constantly watching over us.  

    Nine years.  That's how long I have been trapped in the main town, learning how to use the two swords in my hand to their greatest extent since the age of six.  In that time, I have studied swordsmanship, magic, blade throwing, healing, craftsmanship, and so much more.  Everything to survive, as the date of release grew closer and closer.  And we’re finally here, today, free to live or die.  From here on out, it’s up to us, the players.

   I duck another shot from the monster I’m fighting, wincing as the heat irritates my skin.  It fires every six seconds, but those six seconds are enough to force me to abandon all forward movement in a desperate bid to dodge.  I’m a quick, light build - a single hit, at this point, would almost certainly kill me.  

   I study it again in an attempt to find a weakness I can exploit.  Called the “Red Stalk”, a plant monster, it consists of coarse, dirty roots jammed straight into the ground, preventing movement.  Its entire body and neck is a simple crimson stalk, thin, and oh-so-vulnerable.  It has a bulbous head, with the only real feature being a large mouth from which it fires off deadly projectiles.

    There’s nothing around me I can exploit, either.  I’m on a stone path heading towards the next town, the weak material cracking if I step too hard.  The wind is still, surprisingly, but fortunate, also, as I do not know if the fireballs are affected by the movement of the breeze and I have no interest in learning.  Evergreen trees fence the straight path, but there’s an unnatural darkness past the first few meters in and the chances of an ambush, of death, are far too great to risk.

    Obviously the neck for which it is given its name is by far the weakest part of its body, but I can’t even get to it!  A dominantly magic fighter could probably burn it, and a tankier build could probably just block everything.  As a mixed light, magical build, I don’t even have the advantage of superior speed, which would likely let me close the distance even faster.  I guess that’s the reason I find myself struggling so much with this particular mob.  At this level, I’m just not fast enough to cut the distance between myself and the mob without getting badly injured, or killed.  Common sense tells me to retreat; after all, if I can’t hit the thing, there’s only a short time before the mob finds a better way to hit me.  

   But it’s never been in my personality to run away from a good fight, nor does this mob seem to be learning from its constant misses, so my eyes absorb all the information they can, flitting around to see if there is anything else that I can exploit.

   I could throw one of the pair of blades I wield, but I would not have any promise of accuracy at this range, and I can’t get closer while keeping an acceptable safety margin for me to dodge with.  After all, the farther I am, the more time I have to dodge.  But if I’m closer, I must react faster, and I simply can not move quick enough to dodge if I move any closer than I am now.  

   As a light magic user, I do have access to a weak, self-healing spell...which is pointless, as any hit I take will be my last.  I can’t block anything, and I certainly can’t reflect anything, so I must figure out a way to dodge.

    Wait.  I can block.

    I dive to avoid the next fireball - this time, though, I lunge forward, rolling and sprinting directly towards the Red Stalk, counting down the seconds in my head.

   At five seconds, and five meters away from the monster, I throw my sword directly at the mouth of the Red Stalk before diving sideways.

   A moment later there is a quiet noise as the fireball leaves the snout of the monster before impacting against my sword, exploding directly in front of the Red Stalk.  My sword, unable to take the direct hit, shatters into crystalline pieces, rainbow shards fading into the air.

   Blinded by smoke and slightly crispy, the Red Stalk doesn’t have any time to charge another shot as my second blade flashes out and cuts the plant neatly in two, ending the fight.  

   A menu opens up, showing me the rewards from the battle, though I ignore it in favor of using the reflectiveness of the screen as a mirror.

   It seems like the Red Stalk managed to singe a bit of the short, messy black hair, leaving a bit of ashes on my cheek.  I shrug, before reading the name of the item I’ve earned.

   Hm...This could come in handy later.  I stash the sole item reward into my inventory as my eyes catch the amount of experience I’ve received from the fight.

   So I’m Level 3, now, huh?  Let’s see if those stupid Red Stalks can keep up with me now.

   They can’t, much to my enjoyment.

  


   I replace my sword at the nearest town, Arcacia, with no trouble, spending the money to buy a few extra.  Following the stone path forward, I encounter a girl fighting off a group of four Red Stalks about a hundred meters from the village.  She’s using an interesting weapon, a small magical wand to deftly counter the fireballs being sent at her while sending off her own barrages.  In short time, the entire group has been defeated and she holds her wand in her finishing pose, clearly low on mana - the magical energy used to utilize magical abilities and enhancements.  

   She doesn’t waver, or show her fatigue in any obvious way, but I notice the way her arms tremble slightly.

   In a flash, the red-headed stranger spins around, her green dress flaring out as her wand finds itself pointed at my throat.  I weigh the odds of me being able to pull my one remaining sword up to block however many magical attacks she casts without getting overwhelmed or disarmed, and am not pleased by the results.

    “Impressive.”  I say, simply, my sword pointed downwards as to not radiate hostile intent, “Though you could have done without lighting the forest on fire.”  Indeed, one of her errant shots have ignited one of the trunks and the blaze spreads, though it does not consume the wood.  

    “Perhaps I just wanted to put on a show.”  The magician responds crisply, her voice flat despite all the appearances of being a innocent little girl.

    “Feel free to drop the act whenever you wish.”  I retort, sheathing my sword.  “We both know that you’re dead on mana right now.”  The magical exhaustion is evident in the girl’s eyes, teal blue irises broadcasting her fatigue.

    “Okay.”  The witch responds, life returning to her voice, before sinking to her knees.  

    “Are you going to faint?”  I ask, bemused.

    “Hm...I don’t think so.”  The magician replies, though her voice quavers slightly.

    “I’m not going to attack you, in case we haven’t established that.”  I respond blankly, noting her still-tense form and the way she sneaks suspicious glances at me.

    “Well, that’s good.”  She murmurs, sliding her wand into the holder on her waist.  “I’d hate to have to fight someone else so early into my freedom.”  The light green summer dress she’s wearing contrasts her bright red, shoulder-length curly hair . Blue eyes bore into my own, as if probing my soul.  She rubs at a singe mark that mars her otherwise perfect fair skin.  

    “Tyler.”  I say, offering my hand to help her up.  She accepts the proffered hand.

    “Anna.”  The girl chirps, and I can’t help but be drawn into the warmth that her voice projects.  Her cold deadliness just a minute ago makes me wonder, though - which is real?

    “Oh, here, then.  Mana Regeneration.”  I expend roughly half my mana to rejuvenate a bit of hers - though I suspect that the amount I give is merely a drop in her mana pool.  More importantly, it increases her own regeneration rate for a short duration.

     “Thanks.”  Anna says, sounding a bit surprised, before shrugging somewhat.  “I do have Mana Potions, but the gift is appreciated, nonetheless.  You’re a magic build?  With swords?”  

     “AGI/MAG, yes.  Dual-wield.  And I’m to assume that you’re a purely magical build?”

     “Mmm.  So where are you going?”  The magician asks, a note of curiosity in her voice.  I frown.  Does she know-

     “Just a little bit of level grinding.”  I say, then add:  “Though I hope to read up on some history before morning comes.”  

     “Interesting.”  Anna replies, neutrally, her face suddenly turning serious.  “That’s a rather long walk, though.  Are you sure you’re up to it?”  

     “Of course.”  I respond, a slight smile on my face, “After all, I can see the way.”

     “I see.”  Anna says, then blinking as she relaxes.  “Would you mind terribly if I come with you?”  I weigh the benefits and risks of taking Anna on my journey.

      Anna’s a very, very powerful magician, as of now, and doesn’t seem like the type to backstab a friend...though I wouldn’t consider us friends, yet.  Her magic could be seriously useful in and outside of fights, and might even be needed for any puzzles in the way.  I’m confident in my own ability to fight anything I come across, but at the same time...I’m heading to the forest.  Nothing’s really certain there, and having someone to guard my back may be an excellent idea.

      Given that, my choice is made for me.

     “Not at all.”  I decide.  “Just give me a second to go over my equipment, so we can get anything I need before setting off.  No idea how long we’ll be there.”  I unstrap the first sheath off my back, my right-handed sword, and slide the blade out.

     “Is that steel?”  Anna inquires, running a hand along the flat of the blade.  I raise an eyebrow curiously at her.

     “You’re a practitioner?”  I question, intrigued, disappointed when she shakes her head.  “In a loose sense.”  The redhead murmurs, letting go of the steel after examining the blade for cracks.  Her tone of voice suggests that she will not answer further questions on the subject.  “Careful of extreme temperatures, it may warp the blade.  Seems to be of low quality, so I wouldn’t recommend blocking anything too magical with that.  A Fire Bolt from someone like myself could probably permanently damage this.”  I nod carefully, already aware of these issues but pleasantly surprised by the fact that she volunteered that information.

    “I know, these are the cheapest blades.  I have better ones in my inventory, but I don’t want to risk damaging them on...other pests.”  The sun’s going low in the sky, and soon it will be dusk.  The majority of the players should be heading to an Inn to sleep, or maybe risk the wilderness in a Tent, but I already know that today’s going to be a sleepless night.

    “Let’s move.”  I murmur, sheathing the blade before flipping it, the hilt pointed towards her.  She gives a surprised start.  “Just in case.  You may not be a practitioner but everyone took lessons in swordplay, and I suspect you’re more comfortable wielding one than you let on.”  Anna hesitates.  “Worst comes to worst, you don’t end up using it and have an extra sword if I require it.”  

     “Oh, alright, when you put it like that.”  The redhead says, rolling her teal-blue eyes, and I smile slightly as she takes the sheath and fluidly attaches it to the practical toolbelt on her waist, opposite of her wand holster.  The brown leather sheath gives her an interesting look, and offers a certain uncertainty to an attacker who may not be able to figure out her build.  We begin walking down the cracked stone path, the sunrise turning the sky orange-pink behind us.

     I slide my left hand through the air, palm open, to open my menu - a few precise taps later and I’m holding a solid-black steel sheath, sliding it into a catch hooked up onto my back.

     “Sword material?’  Anna asks.

     “Obsidian.”  I mutter, opening up my menu again.

     “Doesn’t that shatter?”  She asks, more than a bit concerned.

     “Yup.  For use on players, as it’s sharp while brittle.”  A second midnight sheath completes an X of swords on my back.  A third sheath, this one intricately designed, slides onto my left hip.  I move my weakest sword, the steel one in a leather holster, onto my right hip.

     “That one?”  

     “Enchanted gold.”  She frowns.

     “Malleable and weak to heat.”

     “It channels magic, and I’m a natural fire-elementalist.”

    “Won’t that make the gold weaker...?”  Anna continues to question, making sure I’m not making a mistake.  I smile.

    “No, as all fire will not be able to damage my blades.  I can channel fire attacks with this sword and absorb fire-based attacks provided I use this sword to block.  The enchantments make the gold much harder.  I’d say it’s roughly at the durability of steel, but without fire and sword weaknesses.  It’s not really meant for cutting, though.  I mean, I can, but it’s not as sharp, so it won’t be piercing armor.  Of course, I can still use basic fire attacks with normal swords, but I can specifically fire projectiles and the like with this golden blade using mana.”  I explain, happily to finally meet an intellectual who can understand the specifics.

    “So you draw across the body?  I assume you’re right handed.”  Her hand taps the silver hilt on the right side of my body, and, after getting nonverbal confirmation, slides the enchanted golden blade out of the sheath, examining the light-blue runes carved into the flat of the blade.  

    “This thing is beautiful.”  Anna replies, waving it in front of her to get a feel for the balance.  “And really light, too.  Could I try casting through this?”

    “Why not?”  I reply, after searching my memory to see if there are any rules against that.  She emits a simple Fire Bolt, the flare impacting on the ground with a small explosion.  When the dust clears, we both examine the small hole in the ground.

    “I would hate to be hit by that.”  I mutter, as she laughs delightedly.

    “Well, armor would stop the majority of it, especially against heavier players.  Generally, MAG beats AGI, AGI beats STR, and STR beats MAG.”  She flips the blade, handing me the hilt.  “Unless you’re crafty, or you can go through with brute magical force.”  The girl smirks.  

    “And you would be both.”  Her smirk widens.

    “Naturally.  You’re a Tracker?”  Anna says, sliding her Magic Wand out before whispering “Illuminate.”  The star-shaped tip of her wand glows with a bright white light that provides us with a corona of light about five meters in radius, even as the sun goes down.

     “Yes.”  I, however, am a Tracker, one of the passive classes available to a player at the start.  I do not need the light to guide my steps, the red trail leading me to my destination having been painted out the entire time.  Even without it, I have reasonable night vision, as decided by my tracker ability.  

     After some thought, I pull out a black cloak, draping it over my swords without being too restricting.  It’s cold, and will only get colder, and I have no intention of freezing.  Anna, as a magic user, should be fine.

     “The path takes us into the forest.  You ready?”  It goes without saying that trailing off the path is very dangerous regardless of the situation, as it opens us up to ambushes from all sides in dark and confined spaces.  As far as we can see, bare pine trees cluster together, leaving the possibility for many ambush points.  It is a confirmed fact that monster spawn is drastically increased in the forest...and they like to attack in groups.  On top of that, more often than not, the monsters are of a higher level, being quicker, sturdier, more damaging, and occasionally mutated.  According to what I know about the path, after walking a few meters, there should be a long clearing that leads us to our destination.  This is what we hope to exploit.

     “Yeah.  Let’s go.”  We turn and walk off the path into the silent forest, the moon watching unceasingly as we disappear into the night.

 


	2. An Icy Encounter

Fire burns brightly on a plethora of trunks and branches, lighting up the clearing.  This is intentional, as it provides desperate light for Anna, who would be lost without it.  She seems to be resting for a second, but only a second, as we’re engaged in yet another series of fights.

    This armor-plated version of the Red Stalk would give me some trouble, if I was alone.  More so, because we’ve yet to find a wave of mobs smaller than five.  The rumors of the forest turned out to be true - mobs are indeed much more powerful here, and you would have to be suicidal to go it alone.  

      Anna freezes the head of the Red Stalk as I rush in and slam my steel blade into the ice, shattering the cube and decapitating the plant before diving sideways to avoid the electric bolt that pulverizes the wood of a nearby trunk, sending the tree toppling to the ground, which happens to block off a trio of Mutated Red Stalks.  This buys me about two seconds before they blast right through the debris, sending wood splinters everywhere.

      By then, though, I’m already on the Electric Serpent that dared to attack me, dodging a quick-moving tail to stab a golden, flame-wreathed blade through the beast, already rolling to avoid the unstoppable onslaught of fireballs.  We haven’t been surrounded yet, and that’s only because of Anna’s incredibly quick casting, sending fireballs and freezing bolts to counter the frenzy of activity focused upon us.

“Electric Chain!”   Purple lightning crackles across the forest, ricocheting off the trio of Red Stalks and managing to kill all of them.  The effort exhausts Anna, though, and she drops to her knees, a Mana Potion already in her hand.

      “Fire Blast.”  I announce, launching the more explosive version of Fire Bolt to send three trees to the ground, seriously damaging or wounding what feels like a never-ending swarm of monsters.

      “Thanks, Tyler.”  And Anna’s back to her feet, fire and lightning and ice pouring from her wand.  I nod tersely before dashing sideways, intercepting an arrow aimed at my friendly mage before crossing swords with the Skeleton Warrior, the undead’s bow already sliced in half.  His strength is greater than mine, yes, but I have two blades, and my golden one erupts into flames as it bisects the white warrior.  

      Anna and I are both leveling very quickly - the constant barrage of high-leveled monsters is causing that.  By now, we must both be at least level six.  Before I walked into the forest, I was barely level three.

    A fireball burns past my arm, and I turn to the offending Mutated Red Stalk, returning fire with a practiced aim.  I land a direct hit, though it doesn’t kill the enemy and it takes another shot.  This time, I bait it into shooting a fellow plant, and both begin exchanging fire, shooting every few seconds repeatedly.  A second chain of lightning destroys both weakened attackers, and I’m already moving to fight an Ice Guardian, which seems like a particularly formidable attacker.  

    An icy humanoid, waves of frost literally slide off of the small giant, about three meters in height.  It seems to inhale seconds before a cold wave of air travels between the trees, freezing everything it touches.

    “Watch out, Anna.”  I shout out, not urgent, but alerting her to the new threat.  She seems to have heard me, though, as a Fire Bolt flies true to strike it directly in the face.  Damage, however, is quite limited, though it does stop the breath attack in its tracks.  The fog dissipates, leaving behind permanently destroyed trees ruined by the sharp decrease in temperature.

     A Fire Blast exits my golden blade and impacts off of the Ice Guardian, sending it skidding back a few meters and shattering all the frozen trees like glass, the crystal shards disappearing after a second.  The giant mob itself snorts a little before reaching behind it and pulling out a massive, solid-ice sword, before charging at me with a surprising speed.

    Fortunately, the rate of attacks does not match its shockingly good mobility, and I can dodge with ease, landing several glancing blows before wreathing my steel sword in flames and slashing the ice sword in half, two stabs cutting through the giant’s stomach and chest a second later. 

     It doesn’t die, to my disappointment, and it turns out that I only had such a large window of opportunity because it wanted to fire a breath attack, which I dodge by the barest of margins.  I feel a bit of ice form on my black cloak, though ignore it for now, prioritizing a point-blank Fire Bolt that slays the Ice Guardian.

     I take a moment to catch my breath before footsteps pound behind me.  I whirl around, my blades already in a defensive position, but it turns out that the mysterious person is just Anna.

     “Alive?”  She gasps out, another murky-brown Mana Potion already sliding down her lips.  As an afterthought, she wordlessly throws one to me, and I greedily swallow it, the chocolate-tasting liquid delightfully sweet and energizing.

     “By a wide margin.”  I say simply, and it’s true.  I did not take anything worse than a glancing blow.  

     Which is good, because a hit from anything flying around would have been really bad, to say the least.

    “Good.  Have we made progress?”  Anna asks, the tiredness still in her voice, and I quickly run a calculation.

    “Yeah, about a couple hundred meters in.  I’m worried about being followed, though.”  We both turn around to look at the absolute destruction we’ve left behind, trees crashing to the ground on occasion as the fire we’ve left behind eats through them.  “Don’t think anyone would be stupid enough to follow anything that could do this.”  

     Turns out, bringing Anna was an incredibly smart idea.  The lightning attack she unlocked about ten minutes into the fray defused tons of potentially scary situations, say, killing three Mutated Red Stalks at the same time.

     “There’s no way in hell we’re not the highest-level players in the game now.”  Anna mutters, her breath finally recovered.  I glance at my stats window.

     “Level nine.”  I offer, checking the time as well.

     “Ten, but only because of the lightning spam.”  Electric Chain has the potential to hit multiple targets while doing a lot of damage, but it’s a serious drain on her energy and its use cost many Mana Potions.   

     “How long do you think we’ve got-”  I begin, but abruptly choke off as the sound of fighting breaks out in the distance, behind us.  Immediately, Anna and I quickly move to the left, melting into the shadows of the trees still standing.

     “It’s a group of at least ten.”  I whisper, concentrating my Tracker sense to see as far as possible while Anna stands guard, making sure we are not ambushed.  

     “Strength?”  The witch asks, her body tense.   

     “They’re struggling a bit, but that’s because they’re surrounded.  I’d say...Level Six, maximum, for their leader, and Level Five for the rest.”  I report, watching them try to lead coordinated attacks.

     “Not good for us.”  Anna whispers, as the fight seems to die down, the group of players triumphant.  They continue marching forward, their voices carrying through the forest. 

     “Keep your eyes peeled, there’s got to be people somewhere, and we can take their stuff and loot them.”  This coming from a gruff-sounding man.

     “We’re not gonna kill them, are we, boss?”  A childish voice.

     “Only if they surrender before fighting.  Otherwise, no mercy.”  A chorus of cheers follow as my blood runs cold.

     “Well.”  Anna says acerbically, her hands clenched and her face blank, “I think we ought to pay them due respects.” 

     “Anna, I don’t think this is a fight we can win.”  I murmur, studying the group further.  “At least four mages...” 

      “I don’t want people like that getting their hands on the Book.  That would be paramount to dooming us all, Tyler.  With you or without you, I’m going to fight them.  We can’t hide here, they have to have a tracker.  We need to make a stand.”  I can see the determination in her eyes, and I know I don’t have a choice.  

     “With you, then.  Take care of the mages, please, then see if you can’t slow down the heavier players.”  I say, resigned to a fight.  Anna pulls out a Mana Potion, uncapping it with a flick of a finger.

     “Here goes.”  And with a slash of her wand, lightning crackles out from the starry tip into her first victim as the group runs into view, striking his wand hand and temporarily removing him from the fight.  The chain lightning jumps to a second victim, a man wielding a two-handed broadsword, and the shock sets his cloak alight while sending him to his knees.  The third victim is another magician, this one holding up a staff, and the lightning hits him in the back and sends him tumbling to the ground.

     The group reacts quickly, two shield-users running in front of the group.  One of them is clearly the leader, utilizing a steel one-handed sword and tower shield.  He manages to parry Anna’s second bolt of lightning, causing the girl to curse.

     “Charge!”  And the group, seven up and three behind, takes off at a run, two wand-users already preparing spells at the outskirts of the group. 

    Anna and I simultaneously launch a Fire Blast, hers causing a fairly large explosion that halts their charge while mine catches a surprised mage in the throat, his mouth opening to scream before the fireball explodes, taking his head with it. 

    And thus the first player dies, though it is quite the pretty sight, rainbow shards falling to the ground before disappearing in small flashes of light.  With no time to dwell on it, and the group in chaos about twelve meters in front of us, I target the fourth mage, though he manages to counter with his own fireball in time and return fire, which I block by drawing my golden sword and literally catching the fireball on the tip of my blade, sending it flying into the nearest shield.

    Anna fires off a third Chain Lightning, and this one succeeds in bringing down the mage I had targeted, though I do not think he is dead.  The lightning bounces, but does not hit anyone else as it is parried by a silver sword belonging to an AGI build.  

    The redhead fires a frenzy of fire and ice spells, drinking the potion midcast to fire more, though only one of a dozen attacks actually break through the wall they’ve set up.  

    “Stop, you’re wasting mana now.  Take shots as they come, quick ice attacks when the opportunity arises and explosive fire when they seem distracted.”  I need to finish off their mages before they heal and break their shielding, which will leave them open to Anna, who should be able to put them down quickly.

     As I dash diagonally, intending to use the cover of the trees for safety, one of the mages on the ground target Anna with a bolt of electricity, the same attack that she has been using, though with less intensity.  She cancels it out with a different type of lightning, this one bright blue, her stronger magic powering through and striking the enemy magician.

    This bolt doesn’t bounce, and deals much more damage, as the mage, a young boy, spasms once before dissolving into crystal shards.  Two down.

     I’ve come into range of the first enemy, who is too distracted by Anna’s use of frozen shuriken, and my burning golden sword sinks into his head with no trouble, killing him instantly.  He seemed like an AGI user, if his leather armor was of any indication.   

     The enemy group, now alerted to my presence, turns to me, the two shield users distracted enough for Anna’s Fire Blast to send one falling to the ground.  That’s all of the time I have to watch her fight, though, and I trust her to take care of herself, as I’m now trading blows with two different swordsmen, both AGI builds using a one-handed sword and a katana, respectively.  

     The latter blade gives me significant trouble, as the range of the blade is nearly a meter long and I don’t have the time to get in close without the other attacker getting me, which makes him the priority.  At the same time, the longer blade forces me to spend significant amount of time on defense.  Any attack I make, when I find those limited moments of opportunity, is done with flame-wreathed blades that have the strength to force either back.

     During one such moment, I manage to make the katana user stumble with a wide slash of my steel sword.  Continuing the motion, I release my blade and it flies true, stabbing into the leg of the falling shield user as he tries to get back up.  He’s not the leader, the one I hoped to hit, but I still have managed to halve their defensive power and Anna should be able to start throwing lightning around.

     Realizing this, the Leader surveys the area before growling and taking off Anna as a Blue Lightning bolt streaks past him to drill straight into the one-handed AGI swordman I was fighting, paralyzing him enough for me to draw an obsidian blade in my empty right hand, stabbing it into the man’s throat.

     I rip it out quickly as I block a series of attacks from the now-enraged katana user, only using my golden sword.  I do not want to risk the shattering of my fragile obsidian blade more than necessary.  

     When he tries to infuse his blade with ice magic, I take a single step back and direct the strongest possible Fire Bolt I can manage at his chest.  He blocks, but his blade snaps in half and the flame pierces through him.  My golden blade follows.

     Looking around for my ally, I almost get nailed by a purple lightning bolt by one of the two remaining enemy mages, reflecting it into the ground in the nick of time.  The trio that Anna had dropped earlier, anyways - they’re running up, the magicians firing magic at me.  I sink back into the foliage, my deadly dance with the two swordsmen lasting under thirty seconds.

      To my dismay, four Mutated Red Stalks are waiting for me, presumably attracted by the fight, and fire at me the second I turn around.  My golden blade is the only thing that saves me, absorbing the attacks, but the effort melts the blade permanently.  I hurl the molten mass at the nearest plant before leaping out of the shadows, my second obsidian sword in my hand. 

      A few meters away, the shield user that I threw my sword at earlier is struggling to get up, and I assist him by stabbing my blade through his skull.  I throw my right-hand obsidian sword at the closest person, which happens to be a rapier-wielding user.  He tries to block by stabbing at it, but the black rock explodes into bits and blinds him long enough for me to manually cast, with an open hand, a Fire Bolt through his skull.

     Quickly grabbing the steel blade off the ground, I pedal back furiously as a barrage of fire flies at me, twisting and dodging the attacks of the mages.  Not for long, though, as the Mutated Red Stalks emerge from the clearing and occupy the two mages and the lone STR enemy.  I leave them to it, knowing that more mobs will appear, attracted by the violence.

     Sprinting to where Anna retreated, it takes a few seconds before they come into view.  Anna still alive and holding her ground by expelling a ridiculous amount of ice and pure mana to keep the leader away.  The sheer power of the attack is forcing him to hide behind his shield, and the force is actually pushing him back.  Glimpsing his nametag as he curses at the girl, I lock my sights onto “Adam” and throw my obsidian blade.  Some sense warns him, though, and he uses his one-handed steel sword to block it.  The black sword shatters against the steel, but it does not cut him up, the sharp shards bouncing off the man’s chainmail armor.

    Changing tactics, I expend the rest of my mana into firing a Mana Regeneration spell at Anna, who sends me a grateful look.  She ends the ice spell, the dirt in a twenty-meter cone in front of her frozen solid. 

     Hm...

     I pull open my inventory to withdraw my final sword, another basic steel sword, before dashing forward to launch an attack on Adam, who has positioned himself to prevent attacks from multiple directions.

     Five quick slashes, all ricocheting ineffectively off that stupid tower shield, but doing their job and stalling long enough for Anna to swallow another Mana Regeneration potion.  I jump back to give the witch a clear line of fire, which she takes.

     Adam holds his shield up in defense, the steel glowing iridescently, as the fire impacts the silver.  I can see the glow, turned solid, crack after a few seconds of exposure to the heat. 

     Cursing, he tries to move away, but Anna persists with the intense fire, sweat pouring down her face.  I quickly pop the top off a Mana Regeneration potion before firing off a second Mana Regeneration at her, which she acknowledges with a quick nod.

     Deciding to take the opportunity, I run around Adam, hoping to strike him while he can’t attack back, but he’s now steadily on the move, running back while blocking.  From this angle I can see that Adam’s shield is in danger of actually melting, a glowing orange spot in the center of his shield showing the stress being applied.  He retreats into the forest, slipping off into the coverage of the trees when the fire is interrupted by a tree trunk, just as I swipe at him.  Anna continues the fire, lightning his retreat in fire before cutting the magic flow, dropping to her knees.

    For good measure, I fire off a Fire Blast into the darkness where I last saw him, but there are no screams of pain.  I could chase and catch him, but the possibility of being ambushed is quite high, and I would not have the advantage in such enclosed areas.  With a frustrated sigh, I run back into the clearing.  

     Anna’s already up and moving to me, an empty Mana Regeneration potion thrown carelessly into the grass.

     “Did you get all of them?”  Anna asks, the intensity draining from her features as she slips out of her battle trance.  

      “Left the three that you tagged with Chain Lightning there.  Mobs should be converging on them soon, attracted by the fight.  It might not be worth it to finish them off, and we’re losing time, anyways.”  I answer.  The full moon glows bright in the center of the starless night.

       “Fair point.”  Anna murmurs.  “Which way, now?”  

       “Forward.  We should be getting close.”  I respond, checking my Tracker senses.  “There’s some kind of structure ahead, probably what we’re looking for.  You ready?” 

       “Let’s go.”  And we both fly into action, footprints running away from the destruction we’ve left behind.


	3. Burning Up

“This is it!”  Anna says, excited, as we run into a massive circular clearing.  In the center is a fairly small, simple stone hut, perhaps four meters in height, length, and width..  The ground is simple dirt, no vegetation growing anywhere inside the clearing.  My Tracker sense assures me that there are no traps anywhere in sight, though Anna is too careless / impatient to wait, already sprinting across the clearing, the sunrise making her shield her eyes.

      The redhead grabs the doorknob and pulls the stone door open, slamming it back with a loud crash before sprinting past the threshold, to where a worn, tattered book lies on a stone table.  Her touch opens a small window, a nametag.  It is simply called, “The Book.” 

 “Illuminate!”

      About a meter in both height and width, and at least ten centimeters thick, all I can think to say is:

       “Wow.”

       Anna is already jumping onto the table to eagerly flip the damaged leather cover open, her eyes already scanning the pages.  

      I pat her on the head and she looks up, a bit sheepishly.  “Ah...Erm...You wouldn’t mind, if I...I kind of want to read, and well...”  I laugh, breaking her awkward stuttering.  “Take as much time as you want, as long as you summarize it to me after, okay?”  She nods happily, murmuring thank you’s, already going back to read The Book.

     With a half-smile on my face, I step outside, shutting the door quietly behind me.  

     With a triple slash I cleave the last Electric Serpent into fractured crystal death, my level rising to eleven.  I am, now, probably the second strongest player in the game, losing only to Anna.  And even then, only barely - I could probably drain every last iota of energy she has before going down, and that’s with only my basic steel swords.  

     It’s been about seven hours, and I’ve entertained myself by clearing out the monsters in the large clearing.  With my heightened levels, nothing really threatened me, simply moving too slow to be of consequence.  The sun is blazing bright in the sky, now...Just before noon, I think. 

     I frown, looking at the sword in my left hand.  There’s a small chip in the center, I think, and it probably won’t take much-

     A flash of light is the only warning I get, and only instinct sends me diving sideways.  I roll, hit the ground, and bring my right hand up just in time to block a downward blow that would have severed my arm from my body.  The deadlock gives me time to examine the face of my attacker - and, to my utter surprise, it’s a girl.  

     There’s a white, featureless mask covering her face.  Short brown hair peeks behind the mask.  A brown longcoat billows behind her as a breeze travels through the clearing.  She’s rather short, a few inches under me, but, for all that, she would have run me through twice had I been even a second later.

     Her sword is a rapier, equipped with an intricate, jeweled hilt that she holds with ease.  The whole weapon seems to be made of silver, with leather wrapped around the guard and precious gems decorating the hilt.  The sword is nearly as long as the katana, which is a problem...

     “Where’s The Book?”  Her quiet, feminine voice whispers, melodic in an interesting way.  It gives away nothing, just like Anna’s face when she slips into her battle trance.  Given Anna’s level of power...I hope that this girl is much, much, weaker, but...The sheer ruthlessness of her attacks makes me worry.

     “That’s something I can’t tell you.  My partners are still working on it, and I’m here to stall until they finish up.”  I’m careful not to give away any hints, finding no issues with deluding the intruder into believing that there’s a group of people rather than just a lone magician in the stone hut.  Granted, a lone magician that has a significant advantage over this girl, but...

     My instincts tell me one thing, and it is that this girl is  dangerous.

     “I see.  I’ll deal with them after I deal with you, I suppose.”  Her sword arm tenses.   Silver!   My brain screams, as she tilts the blade ever so slightly and sunlight sears my eyes, reflected off of the precious metal.

     On pure instinct, I jump back again, crossing my swords in an X.  I manage to block  both of her strikes - fast! - and land on my feet, my blades already lashing out in a practiced pattern.  

     We trade blows rapidly back and forth.  I’m wary for more flashes, but she seems more interested in stabbing me with lightning-quick strikes that I barely manage to keep up with.  Without my second sword, I would have been overwhelmed, and indeed, some of my blocks are pure luck.

      “A dual-wielder?  Pretty interesting.”  My attacker comments thoughtfully.  A sudden flash and another attempt to pierce my chest, blocked.

     “Yeah, well, I didn’t think I’d ever have to fight someone quite as tricky as you.”  The next glint of light occurs as she’s running at me, and without my Tracker ability helping telegraph her location, I would have already been dead.  As it is, I’m barely keeping up with her constant movement and strafing, and the beams of sunlight being directed at my face do not help.

     “I take that as a compliment.”  The girl says, as her rapier opens up a small laceration on my left wrist with a lightning-fast stab.  She dodges my kick aimed at her stomach and flips away before dashing sideways, parrying my quick attempt at disarming her with an upwards slash.

      “You’re pretty fast.  But not too fast.  You’re a mixed build, aren’t you?”  My attacker opens up a shallow cut on my cheek.  “Ooh, just a few inches to the right.”

      “Irritating.”  I mutter, slamming my blade against hers to push her back a bit.  I get the distinct feeling that the girl is frowning under her mask.  Her frenzy of nearly untrackable slashes and stabs increases in speed, until I’m pushed solely on defense, her feet moving in a rapid pattern as her silver blade blurs through the air...

       She dances away as I slash at her head, before a quick thrust cuts through my longcoat, barely missing.  She parries a swipe at her abdomen then rolls out of the way of my left-handed stab, leaving behind another wound on my left arm as she gets out of point-blank distance.  Backing away, I take a defensive position.

    She’s smart enough to not get baited by the intentional openings I leave in my defense, fast enough to take advantage of unintentional openings, and tricky enough to make continuing the fight dangerous.  No, this is the better option.  A defensive stand relying on powerful attacks - the one thing she has yet to match me in.

Flash.  Flash.

     A triple stab, all three hits landing on my left-hand sword.  My instincts tell me to counterattack, but I don’t, concentrating.  

    Block.  Block.  She moves to one side, now that I’m in a stationary position, and I track her effortlessly, parrying repeatedly. 

    Then the sword in my left hand shatters, her blade striking the chip that I had been examining earlier.  I throw myself sideways, but can’t completely dodge.  Her sword goes through my right shoulder, and it is only through strength of will that I retain my grip.  Fortunately, I am ambidextrous, but this will seriously damage my fighting ability.  There’s no way I’ll be allotted the time to heal, either.

Calm down.  Focus.

     My left hand find the hilt of my remaining sword, in a defensive stance.  My eyes flutter closed, and remained closed, as the brushes of light bounce ineffectually against my darkened vision.

     “Something new?”  Yes.  My Tracker vision still works, even in the darkness, and I can sense her perfectly.  With this vision-

     She slashes at my throat. 

     -I can see her movements-

     I parry, and two stabs in the same second, aimed at my head and throat-

    -And even better, I can-

Blocked, a wide sweep knocking her back a step.  

-see how she telegraphs her attacks.

     I step inside one of her stabs, grab her by the throat, and slam her forehead against mine.

      My eyes open. 

      She stumbles back, as her mask splits down the middle and dissolves into crystal, revealing a beautiful, young, scared face.

      Naked shock in her sapphire eyes, as her back slams into one of the pine trees at the edge of the clearing.  

She’s just a girl.

      I swing in a horizontal arc, and she blocks - a decision almost as bad as taking the hit.  Her arms tremble with exertion as the thin blade of her rapier bends.

     “You’re going to lose this fight.”  I state.  It’s not an opinion, and it’s not banter.  It’s cold, hard truth.  And I think the certainty in my voice shakes her, because her blade slips for a second and I headbutt her, again.

     The broken skin of her forehead drips blood, a crimson trail sliding down her face, mesmerizing.  I can see the fear in her eyes, even as she kicks me in the stomach and darts to the side.  I manage to catch her name, though.

      “Lindsey.”  

      She’s shivering now, losing her composure.  Our blades clash again, but she’s not as fast now, perhaps too intimidated.  Not as powerful.  I riposte, my sword sinking into her left shoulder.

     She doesn’t cry out, but I can clearly see the pain in her expression.  It makes me feel sick, and I back off as she cries out in pain and twists away, her left hand plastered to her shoulder, already slickened with blood.

     She’s as young as I am.

     ...But...this is reality.  Where teenagers kill to survive, to fight to be alive when all fifty floors are finished.  I can’t...feel pity.  I can’t hesitate.  

      Her left arm dangles uselessly at her side, mirroring my right arm with a similar wound, and neither of us can heal, as she lunges forward again, a new determination in her eyes.

Where do you find your strength, girl?

     Her strokes are not quite as precise as they were, and I’m not as fast as I was, both of us held back by human weakness, pain and pity...      

     “Heal.”   I whisper, my hand finding my injured shoulder and, rather than pressing the attack, Lindsey does the same.  The mana rushes up my arm and flows into my wound, sealing it in moments.  

What can I do?  There’s no point in imbuing my sword with fire - that would only help me overpower her, in this case, and there’s no point in doing that.  I can already do that with ease.  What I need to do is cripple her speed, and then she will have nothing.  How...?

     I see.

     She parries desperately as I put all the power I can into a sideways slash, and she leaps backwards before lunging forward.

     I don’t dodge, not entirely.  The blade goes through my left shoulder, as I lunge forward, mana already sparkling in my hand.   Holding back my cry of pain and forcing down the burning supernova in my joint, I drop my sword and press my hand to her stomach, channeling fire energy into my hand.

     ...I’m sorry...

     I bury the tears and the regret and the anguish I feel at her defeated, widened eyes, and her realization as my hand heats up before forcefully expelling the mana stored in it, skewering her as it tears through her soft flesh.

     “...Fire Bolt.”  

**  
**  


     I turn away from the body, walking away slowly, hesitantly.  

     The Fire Bolt materialized in Lindsey’s stomach, causing irreparable damage. 

     Last night, I took five lives with no regret, no pity, and no emotion.  Kills, caused by my hand, wielding a blade that tore open flesh, or using magic, summoning fire to destroy.

     Then why do I feel so terrible about Lindsey?

    ...Gods, what have I done?  She was my age.  Maybe younger.  She acted tough, but she was human, unbearably so.  I watched her lose composure.  I forced the loss of her confidence, meticulously tearing her apart.  My sword remembers the feel of her skin as it cut her open, taking her apart piece by piece.  

     She was just a young girl who wanted to survive, who did what she thought was right to survive, and I ended her life.

    A quiet gasp of pain.  So soft that I can barely hear it over the short distance I have traveled.  No...

     I run back, where, propped against a tree, the young brunette girl clings to life, her hand pressed over the bloody tear going right through her.  Her legs must be paralyzed - the fireball likely split her spinal cord.  Did she drag herself to a sitting position?  I can’t see another explanation for it.

     Her limited magical use must be the only thing alive - even now, the faint glow of her hand dissipates.  She’s probably used the last of her energy to help regenerate some health - futile.  The burn icon burns brightly next to her slowly declining health bar, along with a lightning image that indicates paralyzation.  The blood is already slowly draining from her face, though there isn’t much blood on the ground.  Did the fire cauterize as it tore?  That thought sickens me.

     Her terrified eyes lock onto me, focusing for a second.

     “N-No...”  Lindsey gasps, her right hand tightening around the silver blade left abandoned on the ground.  She struggles to lift it, I can see it in her eyes, but fails.  It’s no longer an option.  Even the greatest magic would not be enough to save her, and I’m fresh out of that.

    I kick her sword out of reach.

    “Please...”  She only has a chunk of health left, indicative of her life force slowly draining away.  I open my inventory and extract the item the first Red Stalk I ever killed dropped, holding it tightly in the palm of my hand.

     A rare healing potion.  All monsters can drop it, but the drop rates are extremely low.  Potions are the only items that can be relied on to work anywhere.  There are healing crystals, and healing magic; but there are areas where both are disabled.  This is the only reliable healing item no matter where you go, which makes it invaluable.

    And it is the only option if I want to save the girl in front of me.

    Do I want to save the girl in front of me?

    I can see a tiny glimmer of hope in the brunette’s crystal sapphire eyes for just a second, but it disappears almost instantly.  Probably her rational side squashing her hope.

    It’s now or never.  Her health is dwindling to zero any second now.

    I pop the cap off of the consumable and force the potion to her lips.  

   As the red liquid disappears down her throat, her health steadily rises, climbing back into healthier levels.  I sigh in relief as the color slowly returns to her face, before quietly going to grab her fallen weapon, stashing it in my inventory.

    “...Why did you do that?”  Lindsey asks, her eyes fluttering as she struggles to maintain consciousness.  Between the severity of the damage being healed and the shock and trauma of having a hole literally burned through her she’s struggling to stay awake.  She won’t be moving on her own for now, anyways.  Broken bones and twisted limbs are much easier to heal than gaping wounds and slashed flesh - replicating human cells and knitting torn skin is much harder and takes more time and energy.

    “I don’t know.”  I reply tersely, gently picking her up.  “I’m not sure.”

    “Is it-”  She gasps in pain as my fingers accidentally brush the still-healing wound, “-because I’m a girl?”  

    “No.  Stop asking questions.”  Lindsey struggles to raise her head to look at me.

    “Where are you taking me?”  This time, when my hand scrapes the hole in the small of her back, it is quite intentional, eliciting a muffled shriek from the girl.

    “You’ll see.”  And there was silence, and I continued to walk.

**  
**  


    And I knock on the carved stone door and announce myself, and then I open it, and I walk over to Anna, and sit down, and, still holding Lindsey carefully, rest her head on my leg.

    And then I fall asleep.

    “Thank you.”  A voice, calling out from the edges of my consciousness, and that’s the last thing I remember.


	4. Revisiting Old Friends

I wake up without any significant bodily injury, though my left leg is feeling quite numb.  The girl with her head on my lap jolts awake, and our eyes meet.

     And then she jumps to her feet, and I stand up, dusting my legs off, and we both walk outside, leaving Anna to continue scouring The Book for information.

     And it goes without saying that that will never be acknowledged again.

     

     “You know you’re not obligated to follow me, right?”  I ask Lindsey, who is still trailing me through the bare pine trees.  It feels like it has been days, or even weeks - there’s no way the other players have had this eventful of a day.  

      But the sun’s still a few hours away from going under the horizon.  About twenty-one hours ago, I met Anna, which precedented my descent into insanity.

      “Why are you still following me?”  I ask, perturbed by her continued presence.  I’ve admittedly tried twice to ditch her by sprinting across, around, and above the foliage - each time, she’s easily kept pace, even with her wound still closing shut.  I’ve given her every possible reason to break apart - yet here she is, keeping up with me with no effort.  I even gave her the silver rapier that drew my blood and nearly killed me - and besides a silent thank you, nothing.  Not even an assassination attempt.  Though, it wouldn’t be possible right this second, as the two girls and I have formed a party that prevents us from seriously hurting each other.

      “You know where the Book is, and you’re a powerful fighter.  Who’s allied with another powerful fighter.  If I stay with you, I can get stronger, and I’ll be safer.”  She reasons fairly, and I shrug indifferently.  Well, at least she hasn’t stated her intentions to stab me in the back the second she gets the chance, though I’ve offered her more than enough opportunities to kill me through sheer inattention.  Hell, she was sleeping in my lap for the last three hours.

       “You’re not mad that I nearly killed you?”  I wonder out loud, looking sideways to catch her reaction as I sidestep a tree.  She frowns for a second but there’s no malicious intent or hatred in her eyes, which I’ve long since realized are portals straight to her heart.

       “You used a Healing Potion to keep me from dying.  That counts for something.”  Lindsey says, nimbly keeping pace and then some as we leap through the trees, our increased speed from agility builds allowing us this method of travel.  Anna is physically incapable of doing this.

       “She’d just burn everything down.”  I think dryly to myself.  

       “You won’t stab me in the back, because it’d be a waste of a valuable item.”  She continues, and I shake my head.

      “If you’re too annoying, you will wake up at the bottom of a ravine.”  I say sincerely, and Lindsey just smiles sadly.

      “That’s better odds than what I’d have on my own.  At least you’d let me wake up.”  She say, quietly, and I slow down for a second as the ramifications settle in.

      I don’t like people, and people don’t tend to like me.

      But I know one thing, and that’s the simple fact that being alone sucks.

      I want to work independently, yes.  I never want to hold a precious person’s life in my hands, because if I lost them, it would destroy me.  That’s why I can’t work with people.  I’m scared of growing an attachment to them, to lose someone.

      It’s also why I don’t have any problems being friends with Anna.  She’s strong, and despite her carefree, silly nature, I know from pure experience that she’s very powerful.  Her battle trance, and the cold calculations I can see behind her eyes, are just a few signs of her extreme potential.

      Lindsey, too, has got to be one of the top players in the world right now.  I don’t know what level she is, but it stands to reason that she’s got to be at least level 10.  Her speed and reaction time is phenomenal, and it was only sheer luck in the end that allowed me to win.  

      Strong friends, that I don’t have to keep watching out for.  People I can trust to guard my back, and do it successfully.  Those are the people I want around me.

      Lindsey suffers my problem.  With a few crucial differences.

      Unlike me, Lindsey actually likes people.  Girls naturally seek companionship, male and female both...right?  It’s a thing.  They have to be with people, the social creatures that they are.

      But I don’t think she has friends, that are alive, anyways.  The tint of melancholy in her voice makes me wonder...

   “Linds...”

   “Lindsey.”  She corrects.  “My name is Lindsey.”  

   “Too bad.  I’m calling you Linds.  It’s convenient.”  I reply shortly, and she rolls her eyes.

   “Whatever.”  Lindsey says, sounding irritated, or trying to, anyways.  But the small blush on her cheeks as I call her by her nickname says otherwise.  

   “If you want to join me and my friend, I wouldn’t mind too much.”  She almost trips leaping off another tree in surprise and rights herself by snagging a passing branch to correct her course.

   “Thank you.”  The brunette says softly, suppressed emotion in her voice.

    It makes me feel like a decent person, for once.  But I can't help but wonder-

    Why trust me?  Why tell me that?  I'm positive that she could have worded everything in a way that would have brushed around the more emotional aspects of this conversation, but she didn't.  She chose to let me know.

    Silly girl.  But I'll humor her.  Truth be told, she's not all too annoying, and I don't mind her.  

    “Where are we going?”  Lindsey finally asks, curious.  I jump down to the forest floor and roll, Lindsey following me.

    “I want something to kill.”  I say simply, my senses on high.  There had been a brief flash of color in the edges of my vision, alerting me to a nearby irregularity.

    “Hold on.”  I say, narrowing my eyes, and Lindsey stops instantly.  “Something, there’s something wrong here...”  I allow the Tracker passive to take over my vision, colors showing the different substances nearby.

    “No, we’re good.  Clear.”  And then I’m lunging forward, my swords already being drawn out of their sheath, to stab directly at the nearest tree.

     The invisible player almost makes it.  Almost.  My blade scrapes off of the knife he raises in defense, but Lindsey intercepts him, her rapier drilling through his chest and causing him to shatter in iridescent crystal.

     “Two to the left, one to the right, and the last one...”  Without looking, I aim straight up and release a Fire Blast, a large branch exploding into hundreds of shards directly above us,

     A falling body quickly follows, though I ignore it in favor of sprinting away.  The burning mass hits the ground immediately after, the death ring of shattered glass indicating the player’s death.  

     Lindsey’s engaged in a two-versus-one, though with only a passing glance I can tell that she’s more than a match for them, two one-handed duelists no match for the superior speed of Lindsey’s swordsmanship.  

    My instincts alert me to someone behind me and without thinking, I jump away, a powerful sword slam coming down besides me and frosting the dirt at impact.

    An Ice-type user.  My eyes narrow when I recognize the person, tall, tan, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

    Adam.

    I slash quickly twice at him, but he blocks with his ever-present tower shield before lashing out with his blade.  I respond by ducking the blow and thrusting at his heart, but he forces the barrier between us just in time and pushes outward, forcing me to retreat slightly.

    Behind us, a scream, followed by a roar of rage.  Seems like Lindsey’s doing fine, then.  Her help in this fight would be appreciated...

    My attention returns to my fight as Adam mutters an incantation, his shield glowing aqua blue before he slams the bottom against the ground.  Eyes widening, I leap sideways as a row of short, but extremely sharp ice crystals appear on the ground in a quick-traveling line, uprooting a few trees among the way.  

    He can’t possibly be a magical build, so those attacks will not appear often...  All the same, it reminds me to be careful, and to watch out for further tricks.  I had no idea a shield could be used for ranged attacks, but...the more you know, I guess.

    I sheathe my lefthand sword as he reorients himself, clearly somewhat exhausted from the attack.  My extra sword probably won’t be of much help, given that pure speed is irrelevant as long as that tower shield remains in play.  No...what will decide this fight...

    A Fire Bolt nearly takes his leg off at the knee-

    ...is magic.  The first one to land a blow will win.  I rush forward, utilizing my sword to try and poke a hole in his defense, to little effect.  The tower shield he uses is far too effective in keeping me out.  A smaller shield, and he would have been stabbed fifty times over.

     But I am able to keep him somewhat busy, using a downwards flaming slash to force him to bend back to absorb the blow.  I hop up and over his shield, aiming to send a Fire Blast into his back on the way down, but he manages to twist in time, barely, and the flame explodes against his sword.

     My own blade is sacrificed in blocking the rebound, and the force of the blast sends us flying away from each other.  I use the time I’ve bought to hurriedly scroll through my inventory, slipping a Mana Potion into my pouch as well as a second, long one-handed sword, which I wield with as much ease as a two-handed sword.

     We were instructed on all weapons, and, if it came to it, I could even passably use the tower shield that Adam wields.  Of course, everyone has their own speciality, but it is certainly possible to swap between weapons, with the sole exception of magical conductors, such as wands and staffs.  Practically everyone else in my class saw it a waste of time, but I’ve practiced to be able to use nearly every weapon with decent proficiency in the event that I could not use two swords.  

    Right now, it may very well help me win this fight.  The items collected from the party Anna and I systematically took apart leaves me with plenty of spare weapons I can use.    

    “That was John’s sword, you ba-”  A Fire Blast silences him, pushing him back a meter as he blocks against the steel.

    “Yeah, well, I don’t particularly care.  Moving on.”  I say, sounding bored.  Perhaps I’ll wage psychological warfare.  Maybe he’ll slip up.  A knife finds its way into my other hand as Adam charges at me, screaming bloody murder, and I lazily dodge, noting that finesse seems to have been sacrificed for sheer power.  The sword, anyways, cleaves right through the trunk of the nearest pine tree, sending it falling to the ground.

    “That fight was ridiculously easy, anyways.  It was kind of fun to torture everyone you knew, after you ran away like a worthless coward.”  His attacks become easier and easier to dodge as he loses control, swinging wildly.  I don’t bother to parry, knowing that the pure strength behind these attacks would probably slash through any defense I try to muster, anyways.  

    “What was that guy’s name?  Josh?  Jake?  Whatever.  Anna and I took turns roasting him alive, that was delightful.  It took a long time for him to die, we kept healing him.  We started at the toes and worked our way up, but he gave out before we could finish his stomach."  Finding a good moment, I throw the knife in my left hand as I flip away, the blade embedding itself in Adam’s left knee as he commits himself to a wild shield slam.

    “And that other little kid?  Anna let me have him, and I twisted his own sword right through his stomach, spilling out the contents of his lunch onto the floor, and he drowned in his own blood.  It was fantastic to watch, and ever so exciting.”  I try to make my voice as childish and innocent as possible, to further amplify the effect I must be having on his emotions, and it seems to be working.  I can actually see the man shake.

     “And the best part?  There was that one guy, where we got to rip his tongue out and then force it back into his throat, and we didn’t let him die until he swallowed...”  I let a manic grin onto my face.

     A scream, presumably Lindsey finishing off her second opponent.

     “Hey, look.  Another one of your friends bite the dust.  How many more do you have?  I mean, we’ve already got nine down, and, well, there’s only so many people left...  I do need more experimental subjects, you know?  Someone has to let me refine my torture techniques.”

      “You sick-”  Adam can’t seem to finish his statement, though his sword starts to glow a violent cyan.  “I’ll kill you!  And your little friends!  I’ll slaughter all of -- urk.”  

      My own sword, clothed in bright flames, stabs right through the center of his shield and through the man.  “You will do no such thing.  Unlike you, I protect my friends.  I would never run away.”  

      He tries to say something, perhaps some sort of derogatory comment, and I let my sword go and put my hand to the hole in the steel shield in front of me and say “Fire Blast.”

     The resulting focused explosion sends everything in front of me into iridescent glass, falling in the afternoon sun before fading away.

     Lindsey jogs up to me, watching magic heal the last of the burns on my right hand.  I calmly withdraw a katana from my inventory, the same one belonging to one of the players I killed in the earlier fight, and strap the sheath to my back.

     “Your voice carries well.”  The girl says softly, giving me a look equal parts wary and inquisitive.  

     “So?”  I ask, preoccupied with the spatter of blood on my cloak.

     “Did you really torture those people?”  She finally asks, not sounding particularly disturbed.  Simply curious, I think.

     “What do you think?”  I murmur, fairly amused.  Not giving her a chance to answer, I turn and walk back towards the way we came.

     “...When you said you were looking for something to kill, did you go this way on purpose?”  

     “Linds.”

     “Yes?”

     “Be quiet.”  I say blankly.  Her “Okay.” elicits a sigh from me.

     But it makes Lindsey smile, and I’m not nearly as irritated as I pretend to be, so I don’t comment on it, instead taking to the trees again.

     Lindsey follows, and we make our way back in silence.

**  
  
**

     We’re back in the clearing when I notice that there’s a male on the far side, heading towards the stone hut where The Book is located.  After a brief glance at each other, Lindsey and I sprint towards it, cutting the fifty meter gap in under thirty seconds to intercept the man.

     Lindsey, naturally, immediately goes for the closest one, a fairly large man with a collared, dark blue longcoat.  He also looks slightly older than me, the hints of a moustache beginning to grow, color resembling his spiky black hair.  Wielding a broadsword, I judge him to be of limited skill, until he moves.

     In a heartbeat, his sword is up and moving and only Lindsey’s stunning reflexes saves her from getting decapitated  She rolls awkwardly and grimaces, her free hand flying to her stomach.  In an instant, I’m standing in front of her, raising my liberated katana up in a guard.  

      His attack...was blindingly quick.  I barely managed to track it.  That’s not stats, that’s sheer skill, and it’d be wise to hear him out before doing anything.  I study him carefully, noting that he has the beginnings of a mustache.  A fully grown adult?  Interesting.  His skin tone is on the paler side, but I can see the muscle in his frame.

      Skill.  This man has skill.

      “Still not healed yet?  Back off a little, you can’t afford to slip up here.  You may not survive another mistake.”  I whisper quietly to her, alarmed.  I know Lindsey totally underestimated the man and I know she’s still injured from the attack I dealt her previously, even hours later.  I can feel her stare on me and I can sense the small smile that comes to her face as she stands, evidently defiant.  

           He takes one look at Lindsey, then his eyes shift to my defensive stance.  I’m ready to charge in to stall for Lindsey, since she apparently has some kind of death wish.  I’d prefer her alive and well, and intend to give her the time needed to find a competent, healthy fighter (Anna.)

      “You know, I don’t think-”  He’s cut off as Lindsey darts under me and rushes at him, a low upwards stab aimed to land just under his ribcage to pierce his heart, a very good first attack aimed to finish, though if she misses it will leave her open.

       Phoenix almost casually swings her giant broadsword and she runs right into it, a cracking sound ringing through the clearing as she’s sent flying into the air.  I roll my eyes as I take three steps backward to catch her fallen body, her rapier sliding to rest at my feet a few seconds later.  Without pause, I pick it up, the girl slung over my left shoulder and her rapier sheathed at her waist.  

      “Okay, now I’m confused.  Are you supposed to be the good guys or the bad guys?”  He runs us over with a curious eye.  “Okay, a girl and a effeminate kid.”

      “...”  What?

      “Well, you’re not attacking me, so that’s a good sign.”  He rambles blithely on as I twitch.  “Is Lindsey always like that?”  My eyes narrow.

      TRACKER TRACKER TRACKER

      He has reflexes that will only be further augmented by the sensory skill that the Tracker passive gives.  A stab of fear pierces my gut.  I...don’t think I could beat this guy, if it came down to it.

       “Get out here, Anna.”  I say, loudly, making sure that the girl inside the stone hut can hear me.  Using my words to disguise it, I gently place my hand over Lindsey’s back and start pulsing healing magic into the skin, knitting together the ribs I know she shattered in that stupid attack.  

       “What?”  The redhead appears next to me, glancing at Lindsey, than at the opposition.  A quick movement sees her wand in her hand, tapping Lindsey’s stomach as the girl stirs in my arms.  A second later, the swordswoman slides out of my arms and immediately mimics my posture, a defensive stance.  

      “Don’t attack.  There’s people waiting outside of my Tracker range.”  I whisper to the girl next to me, a nearly imperceptible nod my response.  So she’s willing to listen, or maybe she’s learned from her own hasty attack.  Phoenix smiles somewhat.

      “Oh, by the way.  The idiot with the shield and the slightly shorter idiot with the shield, I can see you.”  I call out.  

     “Damnit, how’d he know?”  A boyish voice complains.

     “It was your fault!  I told you that was an obvious spot!”  A different, slightly older voice retorts.

     “...You guys are wearing purple and bright freaking blue.  How am I supposed to miss either of you?”  I grit my teeth.

     “Are they serious?”  Lindsey whispers to me.  “Is this some sort of plot to get us to lower our guard?”

     “I don’t know.”  I murmur back, watching the revealed pair carefully as the two shield-users stumble through the forest.  One trips on his face with a loud clang of metal.

     “You tripped me!”  Raffy, the taller of the two, accuses, waving his shield wildly.

     “Did not!”  Tony, the shorter, owning a broadsword and a shield, defends.  Anna giggles before sharply cutting off the sound.

     I just shake my head, irritated, before sheathing our swords.  “I’m not particularly in the mood to fight.  Why are you here, Tracker?”  I question, trying to sound neutral.

     “Well, we’re here to fight the monster that’s supposed to be by The Book, but if you’re still using it, we can chill out and wait.  I want to look through it later, see if it points me in the right direction.”  And I actually believe it, reading his body language.  Anna frowns.  She sees it too.

     “Uh...”  The witch nods.  “Sure?”

     “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to party with us, if you’re here solely for peace?”  And maybe I could have an interesting sparring partner.

     “Huh.  Why not?”  He pokes at his menu and, seconds later, sends a “Party Merge” request.  I accept without hesitation.

     “Well, what do you know?”  Anna asks, perhaps hoping to get some information.  She receives the disappointing, but expected, answer of “Nothing besides what the NPC told me.”  

     “It’s a field boss.”  Anna adds helpfully.

    “So we’d need to meet certain conditions for it to spawn...And it has to be here, huh?”  Hmm... I puzzle out the problem while Anna kicks around grass, clearly having already exhausted this line of thought without any progress.  Phoenix just blinks a few times before settling down.  His two companions chase each other around the clearing.

    “I’ll go get the Book and bring it here; maybe there’s a quote in it that we missed.”  Lindsey wanders off towards the stone hut.

    “Didn’t they say something when they gave us the information?   It was a riddle.  What was it?”  I pace anxiously, trying to remember information from two years back and struggling.  “Why didn’t I write it down?  Ugh.  Even the stupidest of players got a standard Notebook and Pencil to write in...but I never bothered with a set.  Stupid, stupid...”

    “I think there was a warning in the Book somewhere about it...”  Anna mutters thoughtfully, kicking a pebble in her path.  “Something about...”

    “The poem said something about...a monster...and the Book...They’re connected...How?”  Phoenix talking for the first time.  I extract three one-handed swords from my inventory and sheath them in various places on my body, sliding a silver knife into my belt.  

    “The trail ended, didn’t it?  It ended with the Book.  But the monster is supposed to be with the Book.  It shouldn’t have ended, it should have continued.  There’s nothing else here at the end of the trail.  That means...That means...”  The three of us look at each other in horrified realization, the sound of Raffy beating Tony senseless with his shield almost comical in the sudden silence.

    “The monster IS the Book...”  Anna and I stare at each other, wide-eyed, as the revelation kicks in.

    “Crap!”  I spit out, whirling rapidly towards the stone hut as Lindsey, apparently not strong enough to carry the book, kicks it out into the open grass, over the threshold of the stone hut.  

**Then the stone hut explodes and we're sent flying backwards from the shockwave, Lindsey disappearing as the ground ruptures beneath our feet.  
**


	5. Terms of Friendship

 I cough up blood and stagger to my feet, Anna still lying on the ground.  Wooden debris and pulverized stone is still falling from the sky, landing on the cracked earth all around us.  Phoenix is already on his feet, looking a bit ruffled, and his two friends are running up behind us.  Smoke billows into the air as an ominous shadow looms across the clearing, the screech of a sword being pulled out of its scabbard ringing across the space separating.

    “Is she...?”  Anna starts, then falters.  I don’t need to look to know that there are bitter tears in her eyes, being forced down as her battle trance overtakes her.

   ...I don’t need to look, because I feel it, too.  I unsheath the katana from its holder, kicking off a second later into the smoke. 

    A sudden gale emanates from the center of the explosion, pushing me back slightly while clearing the dust around it.  It’s when we get our first look at what we’re dealing with here. 

    “Omniscient Guardian” stands tall at easily thirty feet, visible from most of the clearing.  Wooden armor covers every inch of its humanoid body as it freely swings a giant stone broadsword, though the sheer size of the weapon slows down all movement to be fairly predictable.  Vines wrap around the monster for no apparent reason besides decoration.  Its head is a thick trunk of an oak tree with two eyeholes, gleaming yellow irises staring back out at us.  If the loud explosion didn’t alert all the nearest mobs and players to come, the sight of the earth giant will.

    This thing is clearly the monster that resided at the end of the trail.  Finding it, our secondary goal has been achieved.  Had I been acknowledging this in a rational matter, I would back away and let someone else fight it, observing to get a good idea of how powerful the mob is, and what it’s capable of doing, before rushing in.

    ...But there’s only one thing on my mind right now, and it’s dedicated solely to see if Lindsey’s safe.  I pretend that I’m just making sure my Healing Potion investment is safe, but I’m well aware, delusions aside, that I’m much more concerned about Lindsey, herself. 

    Flames wreath the sword in my hand as I duck under the giant’s first swing of its massive sword, stabbing the burning sword into the ankle joint of the Omniscient Guardian.  I leave it there, already pulling out another one-handed sword to leave as a present in the same ankle before dashing out as it attempts to stomp me flat.  

    To my dismay, the burning blade fizzles out after a few moments, as a result of the boss’s special magic.  Which was expected, yes, but I had hoped anyways.  

    The giant turns towards me as I run between its legs before suddenly freezing up, lightning rippling through its armor.  It turns towards the source, Anna, who is busy pouring black electricity into the Omniscient Guardian’s back, and starts to take a step forward against the paralyzation.

Oh, I’ll be damned if you take another of my friends.

    A bright flash, however, makes any preventive action unnecessary, and suddenly Lindsey is standing at my side again, her rapier held loosely in her hand.  In slow motion, I watch fire blaze all over slashes left behind in the girl’s wake, forcing the monster to stop and beat hastily at it with my sword.

    “Miss me?”  The brunette quips, flourishing her rapier.

    “You’re an idiot.”  I reply, then, “-How’d you even survive?”  Lindsey smiles, if a bit wearily.

    “I was waiting for something to happen and was already moving before it exploded on me.  I wasn’t really close by the explosion at all and the only damage I took was being sent through a stone wall.  That hurt, but didn’t kill me.”  Lindsey points at the top of the still-burning giant, watching as bits of the old stone hut slide off the crown of its head.  “It wasn’t aware of my presence, but just to be safe I took the precaution of healing my wounds before revealing myself.”

    “Well then.”  Phoenix pulverizes one of the toes of the massive monster before jumping back as his two friends take his place, blocking the stone sword with their glowing shields.  

    “Together?”  Lindsey asks, a smirk on her face as she stares down the Omniscient Guardian, the tip of her rapier glowing.

    “...Sure.  Why not?”  And we rush the monster, blades burning in our hands.

**  
  
**

     Normally, I would fight the thing from a distance, using fire magic to light it on fire.

     But I’ve already seen how little effect magical abilities have on such a massive monster.  There’s no point in using pure magic, especially not my weaker magic, and my only use of it will be to heal, and to enhance my attacks.

    The Omniscient Guardian tries to slap me off its knee with its free hand as I try to make my way higher.  Blocking is paramount to suicide so I instead leap straight upwards, clearing the pounding palm by millimeters.

    In the air, I perform an acrobatic flip and twist around to launch a series of slashes, each glowing with bright friction as I cut into the left thigh of the giant.  Its howl is enough to make me slip as I try to land on the top of its wooden shin guard, sending me tumbling down.  A launched Fire Blast from Anna, across the field, comes in time to prevent an oncoming kick that would have certainly killed me as I land on my feet.  I stumble slightly before jumping away as it sends the giant stone sword it wields crashing to the ground, the impact creating a fissure in the dirt.

    Things are happening too fast for me to control here.  I anticipated the unsteady mob being slow enough to be easy to cut up but...it has too much power.  Every attack is actually several, as the sheer force of the blow sends shockwaves that throw me off my feet or bat me out of the air, leaving me open...

     Lindsey darts past me and through the boss’s legs, leaving a rent in the heel of the Omniscient Guardian as it continually attempts to flatten me.  All it does, however, is give me the time to learn and adapt to the concussive forces that radiate from the points of impact, letting me figure out how to move away a certain distance to avoid being swatted out of the air by something I can’t see.  

     Lindsey doesn’t have this problem.  She’s too fast for the waves to affect her.

     Upon the brunette’s fourth attack on the left foot of the giant monster, I can see a thick shard of wood slip off the giant, leaving behind smooth skin.  Lindsey quickly capitalizes on this and stabs the humanoid behemoth twice in the exposed weak point, a fire attack boring deep into flesh before her rapier is torn out.  She hastily leaps away as the giant attempts to stomp on her, pulverizing the ground she previously stood on.  

     “So-”  The swordswoman pants, before diving away as the massive blade once more swings down to try and crush us.  “-What now?”  We back away, dodging random swings as they come.  Phoenix launches a few more attacks from the giant’s rear, his attacks noticeably destroying armor.  

     “We need to keep doing that.  Take out its mobility and keep it switching between us.”  I call out as I leap away from another attack, dashing to the side to see if I can get behind it, or get its attention focused on me so that Lindsey can launch more attacks.  Not surprisingly, it focuses on me, probably because I’ve done more damage and would be considered the bigger threat.  Rolling out of the way of a particularly vicious slash and wincing as the blast of air tries to lift me off my feet, I jump up again onto the wooden armor, jamming a flaming sword into the monster’s kneecap before using it as a spring hold as a giant, gnarled fist slams into the spot I was standing on, making the giant shriek in pain.  

     Interesting...

     Using vines that appear to be tying the wooden armor down, I quickly scale the Omniscient Guardian’s body, making my way to its stomach and dodging the open-handed slaps that threaten to push me off my already precarious holds, if not killing me on impact.

    I finally pull myself up, quickly squirming under the wooden chestplate to come face to face with vulnerable, more human skin, tearing my way through directly into the giant’s abdomen and submerging myself into blood and gore as it pounds its armor in an attempt to crush me.  While not directly hit by the impact, I feel the shockwave as it travels through flesh to jar me slightly, but I shake off the feeling quickly and go to work, swinging my swords wildly.  

    At first my swords are slow, hampered by the onerous work of cutting through the insides of the mob I’m encased in, but the weight lessens significantly as fragile organs are located and ripped apart, disappearing under the heat of my blades.  The giant’s shrieks and wild movements are all the confirmation I need to know I’m doing severe damage.  I can hear and feel a constant pounding that I brush off as the heartbeat of the giant.

“Well, this isn’t something I ever thought I’d be doing.”   I think dryly to myself as my swords tear through what I assume is a massive kidney, blood spraying out of the severed arteries in my path and soaking me to the bone.  I try to keep my mouth shut and not breathe in more than I need to as crimson liquid runs through my hair and paints my clothes red.  

    A loud roar seems to indicate the changing of attack patterns before a shudder runs through the flesh I’m standing.  Off balance and disoriented, I’m in no condition to dodge the massive, bloody hand that rips through damaged flesh to grab me around the waist and rip me out of the gaping hole I’ve left in the giant’s skin.

   Bright sunlight forces me to squint as I’m dragged back out into the real world, lodging both of my swords deep in the Omniscient Guardian’s belly before losing hold and dropping them.  I find myself hanging upside down, and twenty-five feet in the air as I stare in dazed shock at the bloody wound left behind me.  

   All of my fire attacks burnt through most of my mana, leaving me virtually helpless as I am lifted upwards to meet eye-to-eye with the behemoth.

   I stop worrying about mana and start worrying about my impending death as it shrieks wildly, whipping me around.  I can feel the tension in my body.  Being ripped apart by the force being exerted on me is a serious concern and I’m glad when it comes to a stop as Anna launches a fireball into the open mouth of the giant.

   It drops me.

   And then Lindsey catches me.

   “You’re covered in blood.”  The brunette says, repulsed, before jumping away as the Omniscient Guardian swings its sword weakly, carving a path through the ground.  Phoenix lashes out as it swings by, chipping the damaged blade.  

   “You slowed it down significantly, though, when it punched through its own stomach to rip you out.”  Lindsey explains, rubbing the blood on her palms off onto the grass.  “Otherwise everyone would have died.  As it is, we should be able to finish it off now.”  I sit up and take out the two replacement swords, wincing as previously unknown injuries require my mana and attention to deal with.

    “You still up for a fight?”  The brunette asks quietly, her silver weapon held in one hand.  I nod, clambering to my feet as the Omniscient Guardian stomps on another too-slow player, leaving behind no remains.  

    “Anna, take shots as you get the chance.  Make them count.”  The magician doesn’t answer, a blistering fireball interrupting the giant from cutting through Phoenix.  Her eyes burn with a new resolve.  “I will.”  

    “We’re almost done.  Let’s finish this.”  A cut on my arm seals itself as I open my inventory quickly and pull out my replacement pair of swords, grateful that I had the forethought to bring backup copies.  

     Lindsey sprints forward, flipping over a horizontal sword swing that nearly crushes my skull before rolling gracefully onto her feet, her hands empty.  

     The giant howls in pain as I notice a tiny little silver needle jammed firmly into the knuckle of the pinky of its sword hand.  The brunette grins for a second, though the smile is wiped off her face when the Omniscient Guardian lashes out with its foot in a powerful, quick, completely unexpected kick.  

     Lindsey almost gets away in time.  She’s not quite fast enough, though, and the boot of the monster’s foot slams into her left leg.

     Everyone winces at the loud crack as every single bone in the limb is shattered.  I manage to shake myself out of the shock numbing my mind to run forward and catch her before she hits the ground, my two swords held awkwardly in my right hand.  

     She’s already unconscious, her health slashed in half and dropping steadily.  I shift her onto my shoulder as her raspy breaths indicate the pain she’s in, even passed out as she is.  

     “Tyler!”  Anna screams behind me.  

      I look up as the giant swings his sword in a long vertical arc like a golf club.

     There’s no time to move.  Or run.  

     I cross my swords in an X and allow all my mana to slip through my fingers, coating the blades in purple energy.

     I feel the swords give way and shatter to pieces.   A second later, a force sends me flying back.

     “Tyler!”

**  
  
**

     I open my eyes a few seconds after I hit the ground, sent flying by the sheer force of the attack.  Both of my swords lie in pieces around me, the shards slowly disappearing in the growing day.  A warm glow surrounds my left arm - Anna’s magic, I realize, the pink energy flowing through my flesh to target destroyed bone and torn flesh.  

     The redhead herself is paying no attention to me, focused instead on carefully pouring a Healing Potion down Lindsey’s throat.  Immediately the deathly pale look of the girl disappears to be filled in by her slowly returning skin tone.  

     “Rest, Tyler.”  Anna murmurs, pushing me down with her hand as I struggle to sit back up.  “Just for a few seconds.”  The Omniscient Guardian is focused on fighting other players, who have taken its distraction as an opportunity to do some damage.  

      “W-Who are they?”  I ask, pointing vaguely at the new arrivals, most of whom I do not recognize.

      “Attracted by the mess we’ve made.  Already defended your bodies from two idiots.”  A few ‘liberated’ blades are lying on the grass around us.  The magician throws a potion into my lap before tapping her wand against Lindsey’s leg to force it to straighten out.  The cracking sounds as mangled bone pulls itself into place makes me wince.

      “What’s this thing?”  I study the clear blue liquid in the vial Anna gave to me, shaking it once to test for a reaction.

      “Mana regeneration.”  She replies distractedly, her pink mana flowing into Lindsey’s multiple wounds to heal them, accelerating the process of her recovery.  The poor girl is still unconscious, although that is, given the seriousness of her injuries, a good thing.  

       I pop the cap off of the glass vial and swallow it without hesitation.  Immediately, my mind clears as energy burns bright in my veins.  I stand carefully, watching the lacerations in my arm fade away to nothingness.

      “You can’t possibly be thinking of going back out there, Tyler.  You’re not even armed.”  

    That’s right.  My original swords are still stuck inside the giant’s body.  And my second pair of blades were shattered in my desperate attempt to survive.

    “I still have mana.”  I retort, jumping over Anna as she works on Lindsey’s leg, my right hand already wreathed in flames.  My friend’s magic is extremely potent, many times stronger than my own, as Lindsey’s leg is already regenerated, though extremely damaged.,

    Do I have a plan?  No.  All I know is that I need to pay the Omniscient Guardian in full for the crimes it has committed against my...friend.  

    I roll the unfamiliar word in my mouth as I set fire to the giant’s left hand, forcing it to stop and slam it against the ground to put the flames out.  Friend?  Friend.

    Dodging an open-handed slap with a midair twist similar to the one Lindsey performed, I slip through the giant’s fingers.  My hand makes contact with the silver metal of Lindsey’s rapier.  Something...old magic, perhaps, or maybe a combination of the wielder’s mana and my own - whatever it is, the sword glows as my fingers wraps around the hilt to rip the sword out, slicing the pinky off the giant’s sword hand.  

    I’ve no time to think about what just happened as I hit the ground and roll, quickly diving sideways to avoid the same foot that destroyed Lindsey’s leg.  The sword in my hand, already molding to my grip, shines a bright cyan as the blade seems to extend slightly, mid-swing, to cut a large gash in the ankle of the giant.

    ...I didn’t channel mana into that...   

    The Omniscient Guardian stumbles, falling heavily onto one knee.  I quickly take the opportunity presented and jump onto it, kicking off in a quick burst to push myself upwards, snagging a foothold to nimbly scale the rough bark of the giant’s chestplate.  I dodge the hand that the giant attempts to grab me with, noting that it is extremely careful in doing so, with good reason - I’m sure the gaping hole in the stomach of the monster, draining health every second, is a good incentive to pay closer attention.  However, with its slowed movement, I have no problems escaping and manage to jump on its shoulders, than scramble onto its head.

    I notice, for the first time, a large, though somewhat short, oak wood crown that adorns the Omniscient Guardian’s head.  Inside the pickets lay a spinning, glowing book - one that I recognize.

    “The Book...”

    A hot flash of anger burns through me as the repressed emotions surge through my veins - watching Lindsey almost die in the explosion that destroyed the hut and summon the boss, the fear and pain in Anna’s scream as I was sent flying back, my swords into pieces, standing by helplessly as Lindsey’s leg was shattered by the powerful kick that did so much damage...

    And even before this fight...

    The tense anxiety when I met Anna for the first time, the betrayal I felt when I thought Anna was going to take the book from me and withhold its information, the ice-cold calm and hot triumph that burned through me when I fought Lindsey, the inexplicable panic that sought its way through my mind when I thought I had literally burned the brunette alive...and even before then, my loneliness at the NPC village...Even then, I repressed emotions, avoided bonds, and didn’t make friends.  Didn’t talk to my peers.

     I marvel at the love I feel for my friends now.  Maybe emotion is a weakness.  But...

“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I give my friends away.”   I scream in the deepest corner of my mind as the rapier in my hand resonates with my core and guides my movement, a single counterattack completely destroying the hand that comes to swat me off, wooden and plant debris exploding into shards as the midday sun beats down on my back.

     “Never again.”  I say, flourishing Lindsey’s - no, MY - rapier in a quick X, the way the brunette enjoyed to show off, bright purple sparks burning along the tip of the blade as magic floods it, mana actually fully encasing the blade and my hands as I remember the girl’s words, about being left alone, and about not having anyone to care for her.

     “I’ll never let anything hurt my friends again.”  Grabbing the pommel of the sword in two hands, I pull back before lunging forward and stabbing the blade down to the hilt into the giant’s cranium, piercing The Book that started this insane quest, and, now, finishes it.

     A final death scream and the Omniscient Guardian breathes its last, shattering where it kneels in the broken earth, taking the sword in my hands with it as the air around me seems to fracture and crystallize into twinkling glass shards.

**  
  
**

     I watch, wonderingly, even as I fall back into the air, high above the ground, staring into the sky and the crystal fading away into darkness.  A menu opens, congratulating me on my victory against a level thirty field boss before showing me the rewards I’ve received.  I’m not paying attention to that, though, more concerned with the fractured rainbow around me.

     This time, I’m not too surprised that Lindsey catches me.  I just fall asleep in her arms, instead.


	6. Progression

 I briefly return to consciousness as I’m set down gently on soft dirt.  

      “Thank you.”  Lindsey’s disembodied voice whispers next to my ear, before I feel the faintest brush of soft lips across my forehead.  It takes every ounce of my will not to let a smile blossom onto my face.  I can hear Anna’s amused chuckle and imagine Lindsey’s glare.  

      The last sensation I have before falling back into the void is of the brunette’s hand brushing across the back of my own.

**  
  
**

        “Why are we bartering for my stuff, again?”  I ask, more curious than bothered.  It’s been a few days since the defeat of the Omniscient Guardian, that, I’ve found out, took the lives of seven people.  I’ve long since gotten over the fact, not feeling especially responsible for their lives.  Anna and Lindsey took me to the nearest village, the trio of boys trailing them.  Together, they found accommodations in the first place they could find, called the ‘Winter Inn.’  True to its name, and in holiday spirit, everything is colored brown, green, or red, though we’re normally far too tired to complain.

   Yesterday, we went out and did a fair amount of shopping.  Lindsey now has leather fingerless gloves and similar shin guards, and a new pair of red running shoes.  She’s replaced the brown cloak with black, in the process allowing me to glimpse the red T-shirt and white skirt that she wears underneath it..

    “You look nicer in your normal clothes.”  I said at the time, and she giggled but otherwise didn’t comment on it.

    The brunette dozing next to my spot on the red sofa and the redhead arguing excitedly across from me, the two people I consider friends.  Phoenix, Raffy, and Tony, napping in the other room.  Allies.  I never thought I’d be surrounded by people as time went on, but things change.  They really do.

    “Because I was the one who enabled you to get back into the fight so that you could kill the boss and I saved the lives of a bunch of other people.”  She responds, rocking forward on the wooden chair she perches on, and I shrug.

    “And I don’t deny your heavy contribution to the fight.  But...to just freely give away this?”  I extract the Power Wand from my inventory, a lightning-bolt tipped wand that glows in my hand and shoots off red sparks occasionally.  It’s three times more effective than the starting wand, which is an extreme upgrade for any person.  Even if Lindsey, who has barely any magic, used the wand, she’d be equivalent to Anna.  It’s no surprise Anna wants it, and while I have no qualms about giving it to her, it’s just so fun to tease her.

    “Oh, come on.  You know I deserve that, and it’s not like you’ll use it anyways!”  The magician responds heatedly, giving me her fiercest look.  

    “Mmm...I could always sell it to the highest bidder...”  I toss the wand back and forth between my two hands, Anna’s eyes tracking them intently.  I watch her carefully for even the slightest possibility that she will lunge at me and steal it out of the air, but her hands are too busy wringing the invisible neck of the person in front of her.

     “You owe me a life debt!  Lindsey, back me up here!”  The redhead’s efforts are responded to with a quiet snore.  “...Damnit!”  

     “See, Lindsey knows who the best person is.”  I say, ruffling the brunette’s hair fondly.  A soft sigh escapes her lips.

     “Pleaseeeeee?”  Anna begs, giving me her best puppy eyes.

     “Nope.”  In my haste, I toss the wand a little harder than I intended to and it passes just a little too close to Lindsey’s sleeping form...

     ...Who bolts up and snatches it out of the air, tossing it to Anna in the same motion, who grins and catches it in an outstretched hand.

     “Traitor!”  I accuse, feigning shock, and Lindsey grins at me even as she hastily tries to fix her short hair by running her hands though the errant strands.

     “Revenge.”  The girl counters, “For my hair.”  I shake my head as Anna bursts into giggles.  

     “You would think the rapier I gave you would give me future amnesty to all petty acts of childhood...”  I respond, dropping back to plop my weight onto the couch behind me fully.  

     “You broke my last one, that was the repayment.” The brunette retorts, tapping her fingers against the scabbard lying in her lap.  

     “I saved your LIFE.”  I reply, indignant, and she shrugs.

     “Isn’t that a required part of friendship?”  Lindsey counters, grinning cheekily as I close my eyes in exasperation.  “I mean, you did hog most of the EXP...”

    “We were in the same party!  We all got the same EXP from that fight!”  I say, throwing my hands up in the air in mock frustration, trying and failing to stop the smile from forming on my face.

    “Actually, there’s a Last Attack multiplier...”  Anna interrupts sheepishly.

    “...I wasn’t told that.”  I say, glaring at her.  The redhead looks to Lindsey for help.

    “It...wasn’t really an important thing...”  The swordswoman stammers, and I shrug nonchalantly.

     “So what you’re telling me is that the two of you are giving up your last attack privileges for all the mobs we fight...?”

    “Woah, slow down, I didn’t agree to that!”  Anna says, shaking her head furiously.  

    “Well, when you put it like that...”  Lindsey responds at the same time, making a face.       I just shake my head.      

    “I’ve heard that there’s a group that started progress on mapping out the dungeons.”  Anna interjects thoughtfully.

    “Huh?”  I ask, totally indifferent to the world outside of my friends.

    “The dungeon...?  We do want to go to the next floor, right...?”  Anna says slowly.

    “Not really in a rush, to be honest.”  I yawn, stretching luxuriously on the sofa.  “Don’t really want to go anywhere right now...”  Lindsey and Anna share a look.  

    “Just because you’re level sixteen doesn’t mean the rest of us are...”  Lindsey says, sighing, and I shrug.  “You’re level fourteen yourself, which, considering you had the nerve to first attack me at level seven, is a large jump.”

    “I was level eleven entering that boss fight!”

    “And I was level twelve.  Guess that just means I’m better.”  Lindsey’s response is unprintable.

    “...So can we go out and do awesome things like clear dungeons and find treasure?”  Anna asks hopefully, and Lindsey nods.

   “Wait, why are we asking his opinion?  We can go ourselves!”  Lindsey says, grinning, and I groan.

   “You’d really abandon your brave and handsome leader-”  I’m already talking to an empty room.

**  
  
**

   I catch up with them five minutes outside of the village, en route to the middle of the floor, where the dungeon is located.

   “You’re late.”  Lindsey replies, as a manner of greeting.  I roll my eyes.

   “As you two left without even giving me adequate warning-”

   “We gave you plenty of warning.”  Anna retorts, “We even practically said that we were going.”

   “I’m still recovering from a near-fatal fight!”  I say, quickly switching tactics.  

   “My leg was blown off in that fight, and I got a concussion.  In the very same day, I got a fireball blasted through my stomach and was knocked out twice!  I’m the crippled one here!”  Lindsey responds indignantly, and I laugh.

   “I guess you’re just not fast enough.”  I tease, working her up into a fit.

   “You know what?  How about a race, then!”  The brunette challenges, Anna facepalming.  

   “How about you both cool down?”  The magician suggests, and in the next second Lindsey and I are both trapped in blocks of ice, the girl’s wand moving so quickly that neither of had time to dodge.

    Being Frozen is an interesting experience.  I can feel the cold, and the drain of my health, and I can even see.  But I can’t move, which is very annoying.  

    Anna creates an electric tether to drag us behind her, whistling a merry tune.

    Lindsey and I make a silent agreement to kill her.

    

    

   Lindsey and I unthaw twenty seconds after being frozen solid and spend the next three minutes chasing after Anna, who purposely attracts monsters to slow Lindsey and I down, as she knows she won’t outrun us otherwise.  There’s a scary moment where Lindsey almost gets her head blown off by an oncoming fireball, but she lithely dives underneath it and continues running, the head of a Red Stalk falling with a wet thud to the ground behind her.

   And judging by the full-blown grin on her face, she did it intentionally.  

   “Scared me for a second, there.”  I whisper, keeping pace alongside her.  The brunette glances at me as if to judge the truth in my statement before she frowns, realizing I’m being serious.

   “Sorry.”  Lindsey says uncomfortably, and I internally kick myself.

   Of course she isn’t used to being careful.

   As an afterthought, I brush my hand against hers before sprinting away.  After a few moments, she catches up, though with a rather wistful look on her face which I do my absolute best to ignore.

  Cold comfort.  Has anyone ever held your hand before, Lindsey?

  The swordswoman smiles a beautiful smile as she sweeps her blade through the neck of another Red Stalk.

**  
  
**

    Phoenix, Tony, and Raffy catch up to us as we clear the last of the monsters guarding the dungeon door, and we approach the underground dungeon as a group, just behind the treeline to see if we can find any traps.  What we find there makes us pause.

   “Sorry, only high-level players.”  An unfamiliar player wielding a two-handed sword guards the entrance to the mossy gateway from two teenage girls, backed by two other males with one-handed swords.  

    “We’ll be fine.”  The closer of the two says confidently, holding two knives relaxedly in one hand.  I’m close enough to see her name:  “Krona.”  She’s dressed in loose clothing, a dark blue shirt and cutoff jeans that seems designed for combat.  The other, shorter girl fidgets nervously, looking uncomfortable with a one-handed sword in her hand, though I’m not quite close enough to catch her name.  She’s clad in a white summer dress, a one-handed sword in her hand.

    “You, maybe, but the other?”  The lead male shakes his head.  “She isn’t even comfortable with the sword.  We’ve already lost dozens of players to this dungeon.  Let’s not lose more...unless you’re willing to pay?”  I don’t like the way his eyes fixate on the petite girl, and I’m sure she notices.

     “I told you, we’ll be fine.  We’re perfectly capable of handling ourselves, and I will not let Morena get hurt.”  Krona retorts, her voice rising despite the bored look on her sharp features.  The trio of males guarding the entrance must notice, as well.

     “I don’t care!  You’ll pay up or you can’t go!”  The trio of males take an offensive stance, Krona still looking indifferent.

     “...I thought they were supposed to be defending?  Why are they taking an offensive stance?”  Lindsey whispers, crouching next to me.

     “That’s a pretense.  They want the smaller girl...for unmentionable reasons.”  Lindsey looks revolted, and rightfully so, considering said girl is fourteen, at oldest estimate.

     “We’ll party up with them.”  I announce, stepping out of the treeline.  “Surely, in a group of eight, everyone will be fine.”  With four sheaths on my waist, two on my back in a crisscrossing pattern, and knife holsters on my legs, I must look like a heavily experienced player, which is the intent.  The black cloak swirling around me adds to that effect.  I’m confident in my ability to take on the trio alone, but I want to see if I can get them to admit their true intentions.  

     “As long as you pay the entrance fee, you can pass.”  The lead male says, and I’m close enough to read his name:  “Akiba.”

     I place a hand on one of the swords on my waist and smirk.  “Is that really something you want to try and enforce?”  I ask, a faint grin on my face.  The two players behind Akiba shift uneasily, but the grey-haired man only grins.  “Why not?  Fight me solo, boy.”  

     “Sure.”  I say, then I’m darting forward, a single blade flashing out of my sheath, glowing brilliant red, bright like the sun.

      _Flash draw._

     Akiba blocks it, barely, but the pure force of the attack sends him flying into the dungeon door, his back slamming against it with a painful-sounding thud.  His iron armor is the only thing that protected his bones from shattering.

     A moment later, everyone’s cloaks and hair are blown about by the shockwave from where our blades connected.  I sheath my sword.

     “Either of you two want to try and stop us?”  I say, grinning maliciously at the two opposing players, who watched the entire spectacle with wide eyes.  They shake their head furiously and run to their fallen leader, pulling him up.  Akiba’s knocked out cold, and they’re forced to support his weight, dragging him away and past us.  I step aside to let them go, as does the rest of my party, and we watch until they’re far in the distance.

     Lindsey giggles, which seems to break the tension, though Anna’s still staring at me.

     “...Am I glad you’re on my side.”  Krona finally says breathlessly, and I turn slightly to glance at her.  She’s quite tomboyish, actually, with bright, sky blue eyes and loose brown hair that partly covers her eyes.  

     “Yes, thank you.”  The short girl, Morena, murmurs, and I realize how tense she is, presumably from the impending fight.  As suspected, she does look fairly young...fifteen, perhaps.  

     “I don’t like bullies.”  I reply simply, sending a party merge request.  Without any hesitation, Krona accepts, swelling our party size to eight.  

     “You’re here for the dungeon, right?  I hope you don’t mind if we join you, we’re hoping to clear out the dungeon and find the boss room sometime today.”  Phoenix asks, taking charge after a slight glance at me.  

     “We wouldn’t mind a bit.”  Morena says firmly.  The young girl has brown hair, brown eyes, and slightly tanned, fair skin.  Her hair falls to the small of her back, unusually long.  As I suspected from afar, the way she holds her sword is all _off_ and I KNOW she isn’t a swordsman.

     I don’t comment on it, filing away the information for later, and turn away, staring at the entrance to the dungeon.  

     “Well...here we go.”  I push open the entrance and we walk into the dungeon, filing in one after another.


	7. Obliviate

   “Duck!”  I shout, and everyone throws themselves to the ground as knives dipped in paralytic poison fly out from the corridor in front of us.  

    “No wonder why people avoid the dungeons.”  Anna murmurs, pushing herself back up after I give the clear.  “This is insane.”  Lindsey hums in agreement.  

    Phoenix and I take the lead, our Tracker passive abilities showing us the dangers of the maze and allowing us to react.  Tony and Raffy, serious for once, are right besides us, shields in a defensive position to block as needed.

     Behind us are Krona, Morena, and Lindsey, the lightest builds and the ones that need the most protecting, no matter how much they protest.  Anna brings up the rear, our healer and one of our strongest, ready to react to any threats from behind us.

    “This hallway is clear, but there’s a few mobs ahead.  Definitely do not go around the corner, there’s plenty of traps on that side and we’ll need to clear them slowly.”  Phoenix says clearly, and we all nod, alert.  

     “Morena, Krona, both of you need to gain some experience, so you’ll take turns bringing down the monsters, alright?  We’ll wear them down for you, but you’ll need to finish them.”  

     “Actually, Morena needs the levels.  I’m at level ten, which isn’t good compared to you guys, but Morena’s only four.”  Krona interjects, and I frown.  A lot lower than I thought...

      “Alright.  Is that okay with you, Morena?”  The brunette in question nods, looking nervous.

      “Go!”  Our party charges ahead, a Skeleton Warrior’s arrows being easily blocked by my blade before I rush up and slam it with the flat of my blade, Morena rushing forward to swing wildly at it and taking it down.  Suppressing a smile, I dart forward to trade rapid blows with a “Mossy Golem”, which seems to be a sized-down version of the Omniscient Guardian, excluding a crown, of course.  It’s no match for me, of course, and I literally disarm it before kicking it backwards, where Morena attacks the poor mob.

     Lindsey sprints forward, past a nearby Stone Guardian before circling around and chaining multiple stabs into its back.  

   That isn’t going to work.  That mob looks like it has an incredible defensive stat, and even though Lindsey has perfect critical hits, minimal damage has been done.  Or so I think.

    Her final stab shoots right through the guardian, impaling it on her rapier before a Fire Blast placed directly inside the mob blows up.  It shatters into glass shards as Lindsey skips back to us, obviously pleased. 

   Three more of the Stone Guardians spawn, and this time I snag her arm before she runs off.  “We have to let the others level up.”  I whisper to her, and she thinks about this before agreeing.  

    “I want to see how you guys fight...so, Raffy, Phoenix, Tony.  Think you can take one of them down?”  They nod confidently.  I guess they don’t consider it much of a threat after Lindsey destroyed one solo in seconds, but she is double their level...  “Morena, Krona.  Attack the other one.  Anna, provide magical backup as needed, but try to avoid actually killing it.”  The girls nod, the magician looking somewhat disappointed.  “Lindsey and I will take down the third one.”  I don’t release my grip on Lindsey’s arm, and after a few tugs, she doesn’t resist.

   “Go.”  I command, and they scatter off, Anna giving me a confused look before trailing after her mentees.  

   “Since when could you use Fire Blast?”  I ask, as we casually walk towards our unsuspecting target.

   “Ever since you used it against me.  I’ve been leveling up my magic stat for a while now.”  Lindsey responds conversationally.

   “You even stole my tactic, too.  How rude.”  She shrugs as the Stone Guardian locks onto us, and we almost casually send it to pieces, Lindsey acting as bait while I use a sword to pull the head off of the humanoid’s shoulder, though it takes a lot of effort.     
    “This is boring.”  Lindsey complains, sheathing her rapier, and I shrug.

    “Boring is nice.  I just want to relax.  No high-pressure situations, no life-or-death decisions.  I’ve had my fill of exciting things for a few months.”  

    “You’re boring.”  Lindsey says, petulant, and I roll my eyes.  

    “Meh.”  I sit down on the ground, watching the other groups fight their Stone Guardians, and Lindsey follows after some hesitation.

    Krona is blindingly fast, but her attacks don’t do much damage.  I would guess that every single one of her points are in Speed.  It’s not a terribly bad idea, so long as you work with critical hits and whatnot, but knives just don’t work.  They’re too small, and they’ll glance off often.  She needs to get a few STR points in.  

    Phoenix is both quick and powerful, though he definitely leans towards strength.  His speed is granted through pure skill and reflex training, not through stats.  Logically, considering his alliance with shield-users, his secondary stat must be magic.  His overall movement speed is somewhat high for his build, and his speed gives him the ability to lash out ridiculously quick.  He’s quite a few levels under me, but his skill makes up for it.

    Tony and Raffy are shield users, though the former also carries a broadsword.  Raffy can take more powerful hits, and Tony can react faster and do some damage on his own.  Both are fairly low level, but competent.  Both seem rather casual but I’ve noticed that they, too, have a battle trance that they slip into during fights.  They’re very clearly defensively-oriented characters, Tony leaning a bit towards speed and Raffy with an alternative magic slant.

   Morena is...intriguing.  I can’t define her stats immediately, as they all seem to be perfectly balanced.  She isn’t particularly strong, quick, obviously isn’t defensive, and her magic is fairly mediocre.  The brunette also seems quite afraid of taking hits, throwing everything she has into dodges despite the option of blocking.  Intriguing.  

   “Let me help the girls.”  I murmur, standing up, Lindsey trailing.  We cut the twenty meters separating them and cut in, pushing the Stone Guardian back to break its offense.  

   “Morena, step back.”  She does quickly, hopping back as Lindsey takes her place.

   “Why are you using a sword?”  I ask, as she turns to face me.  She immediately looks uncomfortable.  “Don’t take that the wrong way.”  I add hastily, “You just don’t seem...suited to using one.”  

    “...Sorry?”  Morena apologizes, looking vaguely guilty.  “I...er...”

    “You weren’t taught to be a swordswoman, were you?”  I say, staring at her.  “Please don’t take this too harshly, but you don’t have any form.  You’re good in the sense that you can react quickly, but you’re not doing any damage, and you’re not blocking.”  Morena absorbs the criticism, though she looks rather hurt.  

    “I wasn’t taught, no...”  She replies, a bit dejectedly.

    “It’s not your fault.”  I murmur, trying to be vaguely reassuring.  “Here...ah...”  I open my inventory screen and pull out a wand.  “Do you know what magical affinity you are?”  

    “...No.”  Morena responds, after a pause.

    “Fair enough.  Hold this?”  I hand the wand to the brunette.  “How much do you know about magic?  How much were you taught?”

    “...Nothing.”  Morena replies, examining the star-tipped wand.

    “...Were you taught at all?”  I ask hesitantly, and she winces.

    “No.” 

    “...Huh.”  I can’t find a single good reason why she wouldn’t have been taught anything.  Education is mandatory, no matter what your home village was, and it should have all been the same.  

   “Do you remember your childhood?”  I question, and she hesitates.  It’s not a guilt marker, simply an act of...

You’ve got to be kidding me.

    “What’s the farthest back you can remember, Morena?”  She outright flinches.

    “I...”

    “Do you know...”  I begin, forcing anger into the deepest corners of my mind, “The identity of the person who has been tampering with your memory?”  Her eyes widen fractionally.

    “T-That’s why I can’t-”  Morena starts, and I cut her off.

    “It’s what I suspect, yes.  Damnit.  That explains a lot.”  She can still react quickly.  Those reflexes had to be developed through the combat training she must have undergone.  Regardless of memory loss, those would remain with her...but everything that required knowledge wouldn’t, so it’s why she can dodge with ease despite having such poor form.  

     “I...wow...”  I can see the frustrated tears in her eyes.  

     “I’ll teach you.”  I say, just loud enough for her to hear.  “Everything you need to know, I’ll teach you, and then some.  And, if I can, I’m going to hunt down whoever it is that’s messing with you, and I’m going to  kill him.”

     “...Thank you.”  Morena whispers, and I’m briefly alarmed at the tears that begin to slide down her face.  “Thank you...”

     I hug her, because it feels natural.  She cries into her shoulders and I silently vow to figure out a way for her to regain her memories.

     ...Strong?  No.  Morena’s incredibly weak, in terms of combat, potential useful information, and, well...she’s not currently useful, which breaks every code of friendship I’ve set up in my head.

    But there’s also a part of me that remains revolted at the existence of someone who would sabotage someone by  deleting their memories , and that’s a handicap that no one should have to live with.

    It doesn’t help that she seems like a rather nice girl, a trait that will eventually get her killed.

    And she’s kind of cute, in the little-sister way, and I feel a vague desire to protect her. 

    ...That’s going to get me killed.  But I’m going to keep her safe, anyways.

    I promise.

**  
**  


      “Looks like there’s a couple people already fighting the floor boss.”  Anna says, approaching a large wooden door marked with a floating red X.  The gateway glows a dark purple.

      I made a lot of progress with Morena, teaching her the very basics of elemental magic while we tore through the dungeon.  Through a bit of testing and my Tracker passive, we determined that she had a very powerful Fire affinity.  I swapped out her wand with one that catered much better to fire-type magic, overall amplifying all fire attacks that pass through the wand.  It doesn’t seem to weaken other types of magic, though, so she freely uses all five elements, similarly to Anna.

     Unlike swordsmanship, elemental magic only requires an innate ability to use it effectively, rather than years of honing form, skill, agility, and strength.  By far its biggest strength lies in the versatility of the user, which is why Anna rushes to level up, to increase her repertoire of magical abilities.  While skilled magicians are capable of conjuring and manipulating elements in very close range, it is much easier to create specific attacks by using incantations.  Good magicians are able to slightly vary the way the spells work to make different types of attacks.  Anna is capable of doing this, to some extent.  

      Being taught magic is a privilege, as not everyone can do it freely.  Creativity, open-mindedness, and raw-intelligence is required to be a successful mage, and the time required is lengthy.  It takes a special gift to apply wand magic, and those few are further cut down by character constraints.  

      It makes me want to strangle whoever was tampering with Morena’s memory, because it was brutally obvious from her first incantation that she was and is a natural magician.  Her malleability and impressionability give her the ability to easily question the magical “laws” that aspiring magicians are taught, because she hasn’t spent a lifetime being taught them.

     Even now, she’s showing Anna an ice crystal that she formed out of ‘accidentally’ created ice.  

     Except the ice crystal is rather hot, and should be melting at its current temperature, though it doesn’t.  It’s the beginning of elemental fusion, which we were all taught was completely impossible.  Ice and fire.

    “Here, Tyler.  I want you to have this.”  Morena walks over to me and folds the crystal into my fingers, a small smile on her lips.

    “Huh?  Why?”  I ask, just a little bit touched.  

    “Wouldn’t have been able to make it without your help.”  She whispers, her smile slipping for a second, before she shakes her head, the melancholy leaving her voice.  “I can easily make more, but this one’s the first one I made, and it feels rather symbolic, so take it, assuming you even wan-”

     “I’ll take it.”  I say, hastily, then:  “Thanks, Morena.”  She pats my hand before heading back towards the door, her wand in her hand. 

     For a brief moment, I run my thumb over the glassy surface of the crystal.  It’s a translucent, clear light blue, with the faintest red glow coming from its core.  I’m tempted to see what happens if I break it open, and, as a matter of fact, that would probably be prudent...What if it’s a really good offensive weapon? 

     I drop the crystal into my inventory.  I’ll make a necklace...or something.  For some reason, the little crystal feels rather precious, and I don’t intend on losing it, or forgetting about it.

    Lindsey gives me an odd glance before a small smile creeps onto her lips. 

    “What?”  I ask, defensively.  

    “Nothing.”  She replies, but I get the distinct feeling that she’s laughing at me.  All eyes dart to the door as the red X fades away.

    “So we’re all relatively leveled up, I think, fighting in the dungeon.”  Anna announces.  “At least to the point where none of us are in serious danger from this boss as long as we’re careful, right?  Morena, you’re level thirteen now?”  The girl in question nods.  “Alright, so we’re entering with a wide safety margin.  The problem is, a bunch of the other groups have also done that, and most of them are now dead.” 

    Everyone collectively shudders at that.  It’s not particularly fun to think about a boss with a surprise.

    “Worst comes to worse, anti-magic, anti-crystal zone.  Well, I don’t think any of us have crystals-”

    My mind drifts to the ice crystal gift.

    “-so that’s not a big deal, but the anti-magic field would be a really big deal, for obvious reasons.  I’m trained in swordsmanship, and Morena can-”  She gives the poor brunette a sideways glance “-at least hold a sword, which is better than most of the mages I’ve run into.”  

    A few laughs.

    “But, in all seriousness, if there is really an anti-magic field, we’re going to be totally useless.  Let’s hope there isn’t one, but prepare for one.  The only thing we definitely know going into the fight is that it is meant to be taken on by players level 10 and above...so don’t assume anything.  React appropriately to the situation.  Just...be careful, everyone, please.  I don’t want to lose any of you, for as short a time I know you.  You all seem like, with the exception of Tyler, generally nice people-”

    “Hey!”  I shout indignantly.  Lindsey and Morena giggle.

    “-and I’d probably freak out if I saw one of you die today, so don’t die.  Thanks.”  Anna says, before blushing as we break out into light applause.

     “Shall we go?”  Phoenix asks, his hand on the door and his eyes firmly on mine.

**      “Let’s.”  I reply, and we push open the double doors and walk into the boss room.  
**


	8. Revelations - Floor 1 Boss Fight

 We file into the darkness silently.  The second the last of us step in, the door closes behind us with a tremendous, rattling crash.  We spread out quickly, arranged in a loose circle.

     “Illuminate!”  Anna shouts, and a bright glow emanates from the tip of her wand before the light separates from it, shooting off towards the ceiling, which is revealed to be over ten meters high.  Once in the center of the room, the ball of light expands rapidly to brighten the entire room, revealing everything in a flash.

      The walls and ceiling are made of mossy cobblestone, which was the general theme.  The room is flat, with a few stone pillars with odd runes engraved into the rock.  Not a good sign...

      “Ah...Some new toys?”  A gruff male voice asks, standing across from us.  A tall male wearing a white porcelain mask, similar to the one Lindsey once wore.  His irises are bright red, his hair midnight black.  He wears a long black cape and a similarly colored suit.  Morena and Krona gasp, revolted.

      ...Because the light reveals the dozens of bloodied bodies scattered around the man, pieces of people littering the ground.  I shove the revulsion down as Lindsey abruptly loses her lunch, dropping to the floor.

      Anna just stares blankly, deep into her battle trance to avoid losing focus.  Phoenix, Tony, and Raffy are in similar states, though they wouldn’t be as affected even otherwise.  Morena is shaking in fear.  Krona...

      Krona’s _smiling._

      “They’re not real, guys.”  I say harshly.  “Get a grip.  If they were real, they would have already disappeared...”

      “Is that so?”  The man asks, kicking one of the fallen bodies.  A muffled groan sounds out, and Morena joins Lindsey on her knees.  I...

      I shove everything down into my battle trance, everything, closing my eyes for the shortest of seconds.  When I reopen them, there’s a new intensity burning in them, blood boiling through my veins as I tense to spring.  

     Four health bars appear above the man, as well as his name.  “The Woodcutter” uses his foot to pick up a large battleaxe before hurling it.

     _At Lindsey, who’s still coughing on the ground, and totally undefended-_

    I step forward, grab the spinning weapon out of the air, and let the momentum carry me in a circle before throwing it back faster than it arrived.

    The man laughs, delighted, as he steps aside and lets the blade sail past him before it embeds itself into the wall, the exposed handle quivering.  “An interesting little opponent, aren’t you?  Come, then.  Come all of you.”  

     “Tyler...”  Anna whispers, “Those runes.  They’re not anti-magic runes at all.  They’re...offensive runes, Tyler!”  

     “What kind of offense, exactly?”  Phoenix asks.  But the magician just shakes her head helplessly.  

     “Magical attacks.  It could be fire, it could be ice, it could be lightning, it could be anything.  But I can’t tell...”  

     “Don’t go in, then.  Let him come to us.  They look like they’ll only take effect in the square they make.  Can we try destroying them?”  I’m staring down the boss, watching it for movement, but he only sports an amused grin.

     Two battleaxes suddenly materialize in The Woodcutter’s hands as he leaps forward and knocks the Fire Blast that Morena fires at one of the pillars out of the air.  Suddenly, a sharp blade of metal ricochets off of Tony’s shield, who blocked the thrown axe that I hadn’t even seen.

     My Tracker abilities kick into gear as I intercept the second thrown axe with a drawn sword, sending it clattering to the ground.  Two more simple steel axes appear in the boss’s hands to replace the deflected ones, and he skates in quickly, aiming to cleave Phoenix’s head off.  Raffy blocks the attack on his shield as Phoenix sidesteps and thrusts with his broadsword, the entire blade glowing with a fiery heat that leaps out and singes the boss as he scurries away.  

     His second attack is aimed at Morena, who barely gets out of the way in time, and in return is forced to block a rapid series of fire and ice attacks that shatter his axes, the steel not able to withstand the rapid temperature changes.  The elemental attacks slam into him and send him bouncing across the floor, his back slamming into one of the nearby pillars.  His health drops to about 75% of his first bar...which is far more than I thought it would be.

    The Woodcutter stands up, ripping out a sharp earth spike from his chest, and that’s when I realize.  

    “Nice fusion, Morena.”  Her fire attacks consisted of flaming spikes of earth...which means her bolts were both battering, piercing, and burning.  That’s the source of the massive damage.   

    “Figured it out.”  The brunette replies, her voice shaking.  But there’s a determined glint in her eyes, her anger clear to see.  

    That’s the end of our conversation, as The Woodcutter sprints across the floor again, more axes in hand.  Anna sends off a purple lightning bolt that he’s forced to block, the steel happily conducting the electricity into the boss and applying light paralyzation.  Morena sends another barrage of molten rock and I light one of my swords on fire before hurling it at the male, the steel sinking in with a sharp thud.

   His first bar quickly evaporates into nothing, and the ground begins to rumble.  Our two magicians do not let up their attacks, trusting us to keep them safe.  

   Then The Woodcutter disappears.

   My tracker sense flashes dangerously red.

   “Behind us!”  I scream, as Lindsey desperately blocks a full swing from The Woodcutter, but loses her footing, and she is launched back into the wall.  Anna and Morena quickly slide into position in front of her, hurling lightning bolts, but they’re no longer conducted into the man, who stalks towards them.  

    Krona darts in, knives flashing forward, and The Woodcutter disappears again, this time appearing on the wall above Lindsey, a massive, two-handed axe already swinging down.

    Moving so quickly I can barely see her, Krona’s already above Lindsey and jumping, her knives glowing red and blue as they slam into the axe and smash through it, the steel not strong enough to handle the rapid temperature changes from the fire and ice-coated knives.  The twin blades stab into The Woodcutter’s stomach.  

    Not done, Krona kicks off the wall and powers through, sending the black-haired man flying into the air as she slashes rapidly with sparking blades before being yanked back out of the air by some wind manipulation from Morena as the boss recovers, axes in hand, and slashes at where she had been just a moment before.  He tries to throw one of his weapons at her, but Anna blasts him out of the air with a Fire Blast as he prepares to launch it and sends him flying into the far wall, where he cracks his head against the unforgiving stone.  

    His second bar drains as he falls to the ground.  I quickly unsheath a second sword, crossing it defensively in front of me.

    “So...you seem to work well as a group, do you?”  He chortles.  “Interesting, interesting, and so unlike the last team that dared to walk inside.”  The Woodcutter reaches down and picks up one of the closest bodies, dragging it up.  “Still alive?”  The tall male asks the bloodied body before he grabs the head by the blond hair and the shoulders and forcefully tears the head from the body.

    Morena and Lindsey are back on the ground again.  The rest of us wordlessly clench our fists and watch as he casually tosses the corpse away.

     “Now, this man...This man thought he could fight me alone.”  He faces the head towards us, and we can clearly see the multitude of slash wounds covering him.  “He failed.”  He dropkicks the head towards us, laughing as Lindsey catches sight of it and throws up again.

     “And this group...hm...they seem to have been blasted into bits.”  The Woodcutter says, surveying the multitude of corpses and bodies.  “Aha, here.”  He picks up what appears to be a female torso.  “Biggest piece I could find of them.”  Another body part goes sliding towards us as Morena shakily stands up, tears running down her face.  

     “They’re not real.  They must be coded...or something.”  I whisper to Morena, as she silently cries.  “It’s not possible to have bodies.”  She nods, but I don’t think she really believes me.  Lindsey gets to her knees, trembling, but there’s no tears on her face.  It’s...fear.

     “Put your emotions away for now, Linds.”  I mutter, gently patting her on the back with my sword clenched in my hand.  “It’s okay to be scared, but don’t let it get you killed.”  

      “I...okay...”  Lindsey says, shivering, but her eyes refocus and she clenches her rapier tightly as her other hand wipes her mouth.  “T-Thanks.”  I just nod in response.

      “Time to add you to the pile, I think.”  The Woodcutter grins, summoning a large, two-handed golden battleaxe engraved with glowing runes.  

      “What kind of runes, Anna?”  Phoenix asks, and she squints.

      “Repulsion, unbreaking...”  She swallows.  “P-Pain inducing...s-soul binding...”

       _Those bodies are real._  The unspoken thought that we share, though neither of us would dare to voice it.  We can’t back down now, though.  There’s no choice left.  

      “Here he comes.”  Krona says, a bit unnecessarily, as he shifts his weight and teleports.  My Tracker ability is quick enough to keep up with it, though, and I quickly whirl around and step in front of Morena, forcing him away with crossed swords before slashing at his cape as he twirls around and performs a wide swing that nearly blows me off my feet even without it connecting with my blades.

      The magician behind me, not able to defend against the sudden gale, is blown onto her feet.  I don’t give The Woodcutter any time to capitalize on it, though, swinging fire-wreathed swords to force him to block and dance away.  A sudden slip of his feet as he slides on a patch of blood allows me to sink one of the swords directly into his chest, before backing away quickly and drawing yet another sword as he swings viciously at me.

       Lindsey, fully recovered, launches four lightning-quick stabs from behind The Woodcutter, who is hit by them all.  He reacts by teleporting behind the girl, but Lindsey keeps up, cleverly using her rapier to gently divert the heavy swings and dodging as needed.  

      Knowing she won’t be able to handle it for long, Anna fires a long, curving lightning bolt that the large male repulses with a sweep of his axe before slashing at Lindsey’s head.  Phoenix jumps in the way of the blow, holding the mighty weapon off as the brunette launches an electrically-charged stab into the stomach of The Woodcutter.

      Suddenly, the runes of the hatchet glows and Phoenix is sent flying back, though Morena manages to slow his flight with wind to the point where he is able to land on his feet before hitting the ground.  The distraction, though, is enough for him to swing his blade at Lindsey, who isn’t capable of dodging at the close range.

       This time, it’s Tony who jumps in, his shield parrying the axe as he, too, slashes at the boss, his short blade slashing into the mask of the boss and chipping the porcelain.  An ice shuriken embeds itself into The Woodcutter’s arm as he struggles to pierce the unyielding steel of Tony’s shield.

       Out of nowhere, Raffy jumps up and slams the tall man in the face with his glowing shield, sending him tumbling through the remains of groups before us and showering him in blood before he comes to rest, back in the center.  His third health bar drops to nothing.  As one, the empty bars shatter into glass, leaving his final bar glowing bright red.

    “Time to die!”  The Woodcutter growls, the tip of his axe smashing into the ground and sending a fissure blasting through it, the shock throwing everyone except for the trio of boys to the ground.  The runes on the pillar glow bright before sparking with blue electricity.

     “Watch out!”  Anna screams, “It can shoot at anyone here!”  As if to prove her point, one of the farthest pillars glow briefly before firing a laser-like bolt at Morena, who scrambles up just in time to dodge.  

      Lindsey fires a Fire Bolt at the boss directly as Morena then returns fire at the pillar, the too-quick electricity shorting out the runes temporarily.  A barrage of Fire Blasts send it crumbling to the ground as rubble falls from the ceiling.  

     Raffy barely gets between Tony’s back and The Woodcutter’s axe in time, but this time, the boss doesn’t stick around to push it - he teleports behind me, instead.  I can feel it, the way the air chills.  

      Without pause I close my eyes and duck as I feel the great blade travel over me, turning around and slashing as the danger disappears.  I manage to leave a light cut across his abdomen before he flashes away again, this time targeting Anna, who’s more than ready for him.

      The abnormally-still air around her explodes with electricity as she releases her pent-in energy, sending him blasting away, the golden axe flying out of his hand.  He claps his hands together and three steel axes appear in front of him.  With a wave they go flying at their respective targets.  

      The first axe is parried by Krona.  The second one is deflected by Phoenix.  And the third?

      Morena’s not quick enough, this time, and the axe cuts right through her wand.  And I don’t have another one, and, judging by Anna’s stricken face, she doesn’t have one either.  With a shaky breath, Morena draws the sword at her side, instead.

      “Lindsey, protect her, please.”  The brunette nods and slides closer to the girl.

      Five more axes come whirling from the boss, all directed at Krona, who effortlessly dodges them all and returns fire through a thrown electrically-charged knife that cuts through the handle of the golden axe and sends the blade falling onto The Woodcutter’s foot.

      His howl of pain is enough to confirm that, anyways, as Krona draws another knife.

      Another pillar opens fire, and the bolt sends Tony flying backwards, paralyzed, as he attempts to block it on his steel shield.  Two axes fly at the boy and Raffy manages to get in the way of them, blocking one off his shield.  The second one takes his right leg off at the knee and he goes down.

      Anna returns fire with a dazzling purple bolt that creates a massive explosion where The Woodcutter had been standing, but I feel certain it was dodged.  Anna thinks so, too, as the air shifts almost imperceptibly around her.  Phoenix runs to where his friends have fallen, and Morena, Krona, and Lindsey follow, leaving Anna and I back to back.

      As expected, he targets us, first firing a smoke bomb that covers the area in fog before moving in for the strike.  Anna spots him first, a burst of lightning flying into the mist.

     My tracker senses flare up as an axe blade flies from seemingly out of nowhere, and I parry it.  A second axe, coming from my right, is deflected by a weak bolt of lightning from Anna.  

    Gold flashes in my vision as the actual hatchet comes swinging in at Anna, who releases the careful bubble of air she had been maintaining around us in a tremendous blast, clearing all the fog and sending The Woodcutter stumbling back slightly.  He tries again, only to be intercepted by my fiery blade stabbing through the handle of his axe and into his chest.

     He teleports away, across the room, and rapidly launches dozens of axes at me.  

     _Oh, shi-_

     I try, I really do, and Anna manages to knock many of the axes out of the air with a combination of chain lightning and a Fire Blast.  But there’s far too many for her to keep up with, and when an axe sinks into her arm, all her magic stops, which leaves me on my own.

     Suddenly, Lindsey and Krona are next to me, helping me parry, but they, too, are overwhelmed trying to keep me from taking any hits, and are forced to retreat after taking several hits.

     The first axe cuts into my stomach and goes deep, though I manage to force out the pain.  All the other axes disappear, and The Woodcutter teleports in front of me, his axe already sweeping forward and throwing everyone to the ground with a harsh blast of air.  Defenseless, I watch as his golden axe goes up, and swings down...

 

    And my vision goes white.

**  
  
  
  
**

     _Morena._

    She’s standing in front of me, suddenly, embers drifting around her, her right hand raised.  The golden axe melts against the fierce heat of a shield made of pure fire, the male in front of her stunned, with his porcelain mask dripping off his face, burning up from the potency of the flames directed solely at him.

    “You will not hurt my friends.”  Morena murmurs, as flame patterns burn their way onto her white dress, even as the fabric turns a violent red.  Her wand is nowhere to be seen.

     Without warning, her shield explodes, sending fire exploding in front of her, and The Woodcutter is not entirely able to dodge.  Flames stab into his body as he leaps away.

      Electricity is fired from the pillars, aimed at Morena, who simply raises a hand and absorbs them, her hand ablaze, before launching dozens of fireballs in return and destroying the pillars.  More pieces of the roof fall as the room creaks unsteadily.  I struggle to move into a sitting position but Anna pushes me down, ripping the axe out of my stomach and pouring her comforting pink healing energy into me, healing my wounds.

      My own mana helps the process and I struggle to my feet, the wound still evident in my flawed movement.  I stumble over to Lindsey, who has an axe embedded in her right shoulder and one in her right thigh.

      “Don’t do stupid things like that again, Linds.”  I whisper, before peeling the axes from her body and forcing the last of my magic down my fingers and into her, sealing the cuts with everything I have left.  She laughs breathily, though slightly pained.

      “Y-You’re...one to talk...”  

      Across the room, Morena lets loose with a powerful fire attack that sends the walls and roof around her crumbling to the ground, but she’s too busy battering The Woodcutter to care.  The male, unable to keep up with the deadly blows, is rapidly losing health.

      Krona sits up, her wounds healed and her eyes wide as she stares at Morena.  “I-Is that what I think it is...?”

      “Don’t talk!”  Anna chastises her, walking next to me to finish up my poor healing job on Lindsey.  “Yes, it is.”  

       _She’s the Phoenix Magician?  How?_

      A massive pillar of flames erupt, engulfing Morena and the boss, before causing a tremendous explosion that knocks everyone standing to their feet.  The roof, not capable of handling the strain and the loss of both of its support pillars, collapses to the ground slowly, like something from an action movie.

      “Morena!”  Anna screams, before running into where the dust is still clearing.  She brute-forces it away through a widespread blast of wind before running into the rubble.  Lindsey and I, barely on her feet, stumble after her.  The door to the next floor opens, though we don’t notice it, too busy searching for Morena.  

      “Morena!”  I shout, scanning the area with my Tracker ability.  “More-”

      “Owwww...”  A familiar voice groans.

      “Morena?”  My Tracker ability flares as the life source registers in my vision and I limp towards it.  “Morena?”  

      “I’m h-here.”  And I find her sitting in a circle of debris, the flame designs on her now-white dress receding.  There’s a few scrapes on her arms and face but she’s otherwise okay.  She smiles tentatively at me and the pain in my stomach seems to fade away.

     “You alright?”  I ask, kneeling down suddenly.

     “Yup.”  She tries to jump onto her feet and suddenly trips, falling onto me as she wraps her arms around me in a desperate attempt to keep from falling over.  “M-Maybe not.”  She says, a bit weakly.

     “What’s wrong?  What hurts?”  I question, as I gently place her in a comfortable position, running a critical eye over her.

     “T-Think my ankle’s broken, and I’m out of magic.”  As am I.  And I don’t happen to have any Mana Potions, either, so...

      “Alright, I’ll carry you to Anna.”  She nods as her eyes flutter closed, and I pick her up easily, noticing how light she is.  Her clothing and skin still feel a bit warm, probably from her transformation.

      “T-Thanks.”  The brunette mutters sleepily, and she visibly relaxes as her arms wrap around my neck before she falls asleep, her face buried into my shoulder.  

      I carry her back to Anna, who’s still busily working on Lindsey.  Phoenix has dragged Raffy next to Anna, but the boy’s almost totally finished healing his own leg.  Proof of his secondary magic stat, I suppose, though it must be rather weak, as his leg is not completely reconstructed.  

      “Look.”  Raffy says vaguely.  “I can see the light.”  Tony looks like he wants to slap him in the head, but looks up instead, curiosity overcoming him.

      “Hey, the gateway is open.”  Tony says, pointing up to where the sun rays peek in from the holes in the roof, a teleport gate being weaved with magic in front of us.  Blue strands of energy rise up from the ground to be transfigured into unbreakable stone, vines and moss immediately appearing over the surfaces.

     “Is everyone good?”  I ask, as Anna finishes healing Raffy’s leg.  Phoenix hefts the smaller boy in his arms, sheathing his sword.  I briefly wonder at their interesting alliance before I realize everyone is, indeed, ready to go and escape from this place.

     “Off to a new adventure, I suppose.”  And we start walking as the boss room door behind us crumbles, heading towards the magical gateway and to a new floor.


	9. Hesitation - Floor 2

There are fifty floors in this world.  They grow exponentially harder, forcing players to keep up in either skill or level, or lose their life.  The first floor has been passed, but it took the lives of over five hundred people.  Many lost their lives through sheer stupidity, but a few of the brightest players fell to a boss they could not adapt to in time.  

      That was the first floor.  Now, just under nine-tenths of the players remain.  Of them, only eight have progressed onto the next level.

       These players, as they will soon find out, will be the beacon of hope to many who have lost their way...

**  
  
  
**

     “...Wow.”  Anna mutters, as she follows Lindsey out of the portal.  

    Her sentiments ring true - unlike the last floor, which had a distinctly homely feel to it, the terrain here...

    Flat desert sand, for as far as the eye can see.  A few monsters prowl the area, appearing to have some sort of sandstone covering, and are well camouflaged amongst the yellow and brown.   

    “...There’s sand in my hair.  Already.”  Lindsey deadpans, extracting a brush from her inventory to brush it out.  

    “Think there’s quicksand?”   Phoenix asks, as Tony tumbles out of the portal and lands on his face, Raffy tripping over him a moment later.

    “Yeah, use your Tracker.  There’s a bunch of patches everywhere.”  I reply, Krona taking in her surroundings, a distinct frown on her face.  

     A breeze sweeps the area, sending sand into the air.  I turn away from the dust to shield Morena’s head, though my senses are alert and ready to react to threats.  You never know what kind of ambushes might be waiting just inside the nearest blinding cloud.

     “You’ve got to be kidding me.”  The brunette shakes her head rapidly as sand flies from the strands, making the rest of us smile.  

      “Let’s go, before someone comes from behind us.”  Krona says, though I suspect her real motivation is spawned from impatience.

      After all, no one really wants to sit in this place, with the baking sun bearing down on exposed necks.

**  
  
**

      A few hours of rest and relaxation in the nearest town and we’re all situated in a room, sitting in a loose circle. 

      To my left, Lindsey and Anna are sprawled out on a plush beige sofa, talking quietly amongst themselves.  To my right, Morena leans against the wall, a blanket wrapped around her as she struggles to stay awake, her eyes alternately scanning the room and staring at the floor.  Next to her sits Krona, who is busily juggling four knives in her hands.  Across from us, Phoenix, Tony, and Raffy chat, for once seemingly serious.

      We’re here because we need to solve just a few of the mysteries that have appeared in our lives all too recently.  I stare at each member in turn, analyzing what I know about them.

      Anna, the redhead teal-eyed magician dressed in an innocuous green dress that goes up to her knees, showing off a practical amount of fair skin.  Currently the most versatile and skilled magician in our party, though Morena is quickly unlocking her own potential.  She appears to know a little something about swords, considering her earlier fascination with my blades.  She also knew about the Hunt, the crazy chase that led us to the Book.  The magician is the only one to have read The Book in its entirety, a dreadfully powerful source of knowledge that could make her the most dangerous person in the world, depending on what it was she read and how well she memorized and comprehended the information.  She’s about level twenty two right now, with a very large repertoire of a full set of elemental spells.  She may not be capable of combining elements like Morena, but her brute strength can only be beneficial to her fighting talent.  Her control, too, is something to be envied, and at a precise level that Morena has not reached yet, and likely never will.  She has an extremely potent Battle Trance, to the point where she completely occludes her emotions as need be.

      Lindsey’s eyes are a more crystal, deep shade of sapphire.  A black cloak surrounds her, though it seems to have been damaged in our most recent fight against The Woodcutter, as the bottom has been sheared off, leaving only black fabric up to her upper thighs.  A white skirt falls to her knees, a hint of the girl behind the rapier.  Deadly quick, but also dangerously aggressive.  She seems to have good control over the limited magic she does possess, but I would not trust her as a leader, simply because her decisions are dangerous.  The girl is quite a mystery, seeming to hide a sense of sadness.  One day, I think I will ask her about the past.  The way she talks about friendship...bothers me, as if she’s never truly had it.  Despite her flaws and the occasional odd quirk, I believe that we get along well, and I would like to one day be her confidant, and best friend.  

       It’s odd, I think.  I never would have expected to come into this world caring for so many people, or anyone, even, but yet here I am, concerned for the future of a girl I’ve only known for a few days.

       The brunette in question catches my probing stare and watches me curiously.  Anna pokes her in the side and she breaks eye contact in favor of giggling and trying to seek revenge.  I leave them to it and move on.  

      Phoenix would definitely be a threat, had he not been on my side.  His dark blue longcoat is currently hanging on the doorknob to one of the bedrooms, and he’s dressed in a tight-fitting black shirt and shorts.  His broadsword is currently in his inventory, though I know firsthand just how quick he can pull it out.  His spiky hair is colored just like his midnight irises, intense during the heat of battle.  Phoenix is a strength build, with somewhat weak defense.  His reflexes, however, are easily on par with mine or Lindsey’s, despite our additional speed boost.  That’s a scary thought.  He works exceptionally well with Tony and Raffy, but is friendly to everyone.  He, too, was aware of the Hunt.  I am not sure what his motives are, so he will bear careful watching, I think.  He is older than everyone here, but seems fine with letting me lead.

     Tony is one of our two shields.  He seems rather shy when he isn’t messing around with Raffy and Phoenix, quiet and polite in his conversation.  He has short black hair, his eyes dark brown.  The only one of the trio who doesn’t wear a cloak, he has a plain blue shirt and black shorts.  The boy is rather young, roughly Morena’s age, though he has proven his competence.  Other than that, I know very little about the boy, though he has shown his ability to wield a short sword.

     Raffy is the second of the shields.  His eyes are an intriguing shade of purple, and his light brown hair is hopelessly messy.  Unlike Tony, he applies magic rather than a physical weapon, though, like Phoenix, he wears a longcoat, though his is the same violet hue as his eyes.  He has a tendency towards introvertedness.  From what I can tell, he seems to have some sort of interest in Morena, though I believe it is innocent, as both appear to be roughly the same age.  Interesting...

     Krona, Morena’s companion, seems, at the very least, protective.  She has sky blue irises and short brown hair.  Her bangs cover her eyes at times of rest, like now, and generally hide what she’s really thinking.  She seems somewhat intelligent, fairly confident, and has incredible timing in her attacks, with an unmatched dexterity.  She seems rather kind, but also appears to keep to herself.  In terms of age, I would estimate that she is roughly fourteen.

     ...That’s right, it’s my birthday today.  Huh.  Sixteen already?  Meh, I’m content having it pass unnoticed. 

     The passage of time, though, is something to take note of.  It has only been five days since the Great Release, where five thousand people were let loose onto the floor.  I’m not sure how many are left, but I don’t think too many have died.

      I lean back onto the wall as my eyes meet Morena’s, and she glances away, a small blush on her face.  Interesting.  

      ...I don’t miss the odd look Lindsey directs at her fellow brunette, either.

      Morena is truly an enigma.  Someone has been tampering with her memories, apparently, to the point where it directly damages her ability to survive.  When I found her, she wielded a blade, though clearly was incapable of using it properly.  As a magician, she has made incredible leaps and bounds, not tied to the laws that were drilled into our heads.  She has the unique ability to combine elemental magic, giving her an incredible advantage in a fight.  Additionally, her...interesting ability...

Phoenix Magician.

There’s three special magicians that exist in the world, written about in books and taught in lessons.  Phoenix, Tempest, Blizzard, who control Inferno, Storm, and Glacial Magic.  They are a combination of fire and wind, electricity and wind, and ice and wind, respectively, and they are the only ones who can use this.  Supposedly, these magicians are significantly stronger than all others and they will all play a pivotal role, somehow.

    And Morena’s the first.  Fire and Wind, being extremely complimentary, fuse into Inferno Magic, which is an impossibly overpowered version of Fire Magic.  Without it, we might not have successfully defeated the first floor boss, and I would have died, at the very least.  Its final attacks...no wonder other groups could not defeat the boss.  Its teleporting attacks alone would have been enough to destroy teams not in sync, or those not quick enough to react.  And that final salvo of axes...

     I owe Morena a bit of a debt now, though I doubt she’d accept it.  There’s no argument that she saved my life.  And besides...

     Ignoring her obvious power, she’s also very kind and polite, and, furthermore, this is a part of her nature rather than a facade.  She does not have a Battle Trance, but that might just be because of her memory wipes removing all of the technical information from her head...

     And despite everything, she seems to have some sort of crush on me, if her constant looks and blushes are of any indication.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that.

     “So there’s some stuff I want to know.”  Phoenix says, looking around our little circle.  “First of all, Morena.  How’d you do that...stuff?” 

     “It’s Inferno Magic.  I trust you’re familiar with that?”  Anna interjects.  The male’s eyes widen. 

     “As in the fairytale we were all taught in school?”  Tony asks.  I suppress a smile.  

     “Yes, well, I don’t think we can call it a fairytale any longer.”  I reply.  “Not when we’ve been given such a vivid example.  I think we can assume that the Tempest and Blizzard magicians are real, too.”  Nods around the circle.

     “Well...How’d you do it?”  Raffy questions, staring at Morena.  The girl’s cheeks pinken at the attention.  

     “I’m not sure how...I just knew I wanted to protect everyone, and T-Tyler was in danger...”  She stammers, her brown eyes lowered to the ground.

     “Activation through desperation.  Interesting.”  I muse.  “Can you transform now?  Are you able to do it?”  

     “...No.”  Morena says, after a short pause.  “Before, I could feel the magic at my fingertips.  Now, there’s nothing.”  

     “And you were exhausted after, right?”  Anna adds.  

     “Yeah, I could barely move.”  Hm...

     “That’s dangerous.”  Krona speaks up for the first time.  “Obviously, if it’s available to you when you need it, go for it, but be careful.  This could have dangerous repercussions.”  

     “I know, I know.”  Morena replies, placatingly.  “Only use it when I need to...”  

     “It’s kind of neat, though.”  Krona admits.  “What was it like?  Being transformed?”  

     “I barely remember.  All I remember was that there was a lot of fire, and that I felt really, really strong.  And I was propelled by the desire to protect everyone.”  The young girl bites her lip.  “I...felt invincible.”   

     “...Try not to.”  I advise.  “That could mess you up really bad, really quick.”  

     “I know, but it’s hard not to feel like that, with all that energy pent up.”  

     I wonder if she’ll burn herself out.  Reach too far into her mana reserves and just...die.  Expend her life energy...

     That’s a thought I choose not to dwell on.

     “Well, we should go look around the village, shouldn’t we?  There might be some things of interest.”  Anna says, Lindsey immediately approving.

     “Girls.”  Tony and Raffy mutter under their breath, sounding disgusted.  

     “Why not?  Let’s go!”  I say, raising my voice as Anna and Lindsey glare at the two boys.  Standing up, I march out, dragging the scowling girls behind me.

     The marketplace is mostly empty, though there are a few players meandering around.  It appears that the news of the first floor clearing has not been widespread yet.  This suits us...but the silence will not last long, as more players find out.

      Until then, though, we’ll gladly take advantage of the silence.  I take the opportunity to buy a few tempered steel blades, as well as two of the more expensive, enchanted goldens ones that are capable of channeling magic.  

      The rest of the group spreads out towards their respective sections, though, at my request, everyone travels in groups of two to avoid the worst of trouble.  Phoenix and Krona, Raffy and Tony, Anna and Morena, and Lindsey and I.  I’m not sure what attackers or thieves there might be in the area, and I want to minimize losses that could be incurred if we traveled alone.

      Lindsey eyes an abandoned bottle of alcohol that I snatch before dropping it into my inventory, ignoring her glare.

      “Not a chance.”  I say, and she makes a face at me before wandering off.  I stare after her with a bemused smile, before going back and browsing the wares.

      I take the time to purchase a few healing crystals and one healing potion.  

      Healing Crystals can’t do anything that a decent healer can’t do, and we have that in Anna, and, to a lesser extent, myself.  Raffy, as well, seems to be at least somewhat competent when it comes to the lighter arts.  

     However, they ARE quicker, and they don’t require much mana to activate.  Just a quick burst of energy sent through your palm is enough to activate the magic inside.  Of course, there is the occasional anti-crystal trap that renders them useless...

     They’re certainly better than nothing, though, and could potentially save someone’s life.  

      As for the potion, well...they’re the only truly reliable healing ability.  There are anti-magic fields, and there are anti-crystal fields, but there are no anti-potion fields.  It’s true that potions are obscenely expensive, and hard to find, but they are an invaluable resource should you find yourself backed against a wall.  Hopefully, the secret to creating them will be unlocked by one of us.  Having free healing potions would be an incredible resource...and a deadly secret.

      I’m not sure if Anna or Lindsey ever managed to find one.  They’re somewhat rare drops, but both of them went through hundreds of monsters in the last few days...I, for one, have three, counting the one I’ve bought.  Anna’s definitely made more kills than I have...so she likely has a few she’s holding onto.  I’ll talk to her, and the group, later.

      Lindsey’s admiring a glittering silver rapier, seeking to replace her rather dull blade.  I remember her tactic of using the sunlight and grin.  

      That reminds me.  I think I owe her.

      “Want me to buy that for you?  I have quite a bit of money from the boss drops.”  I offer, as she whirls around at the sound of my voice.

     “Um...why?  I can buy it myself, actually, so...”  She doesn’t seem against the idea, merely a bit hesitant.

     “Well, I do owe you.  I broke your last one, remember?”  I say, reminiscing.  Truthfully, the Omniscient Guardian fight feels like ages ago...when in reality it has been less than a week.  Huh.  

     “I...well, yeah...But you did save my life during that fight, so we’re even, I think.”  Lindsey bites her lip, hesitating.  

     “And you contributed towards saving mine against the Woodcutter.  Or did you forget already?”  She blushes, stammering out a denial.  

     “I-I d-didn’t, not really-”

     “You blocked, what?  A dozen axes?”  I raise an eyebrow.  “I think taking those twelve hits would have been fatal, no?  And I owe you especially because you were hit too, protecting me.  Can’t really ignore that, no?”  

     “I...guess...?”  She still looks reluctant.  

     “I mean, if that’s not enough for you, I’ll buy it because I have enough, I’m already done shopping, and because we’re friends.  Okay?”  At her hesitant nod, I gently pry the weapon from her fingers and walk to the cashier, pulling out the gold coins required to complete the transaction.

      I almost miss her murmured question, as she stares at the ground.

“Friends...?”


	10. Slipping

      “Oh, Lindsey.”  I say, sighing.  She manages a grin, blood bubbling out of the corner of her mouth. 

      “S-Sorry.”  She doesn’t look very repentant, though.  I walk over to her, carefully pulling the long needle out of her ribs.

      “Don’t be so reckless...”  My fingers press against her wound, eliciting a sharp gasp from the girl.  “One day, you’re going to take the wrong chance.”  Mana flows into the deep cut, knitting sliced flesh together.  

      That’s the third ambush we’ve walked into, Warrior Skeletons leaping out of quicksand to fight with swords made out of bone.  The sand pulls at our feet, slowing us down.  Lindsey, not used to being grounded, has been hit more than once, though she has managed to deflect everything fatal.  I had the brilliant idea of splitting our party up in the dungeon...and, well, it’s not going very well.  The dungeon’s basically a pyramid with all sorts of odd things and traps.  However, the split was necessary.  In this dungeon, anyways, the more people there are together, the more mobs form.  While not terribly dangerous individually, fighting off four times the amount of mobs we’re currently burning through would be tiring, and quite risky.  They already appear in groups of five...Twenty at a time would be far too draining.  Even without that aspect, the dungeon seems to be a long maze, rather than a long path like the last floor.  Taking the risk, I split the group into three, making sure each had a Tracker.

      Anna, Morena, and Krona are together.  Anna’s extremely competent, and has the ability to heal effectively while fighting from a distance.  Krona and Morena, who need the experience, will benefit from Anna’s support while being protected.  Krona, as I suspected, is a Tracker.

      Phoenix, Tony, and Raffy already worked together as an effective group before being integrated into our party.  I trust that they will easily burn through whatever mobs they have to fight.  Phoenix is obviously the Tracker.

      That just leaves Lindsey and I.  Our fight against the Omniscient Guardian, as well as our interlocking personalities, allows us to be excellent teammates.  I curb the worst of her impulsiveness...to little effect, but I try, and Lindsey, well...

      Whatever the reason, we work well together, even though the girl is exasperating at times.   We move through the corridors with extreme ease, the mobs barely slowing us down.

      Not surprisingly, this floor is far harsher than the previous.  Even the scattered cacti around the rooms attack, much to Lindsey’s shock as she passed by one of the desert plants.  When she got within a few meters of one of the green stalks, the entire plant exploded in a white mist, sending her reeling.  I watched as she blocked a spine that would have landed straight between her eyes had she not reacted in time, but she was too slow to block the second attack that pierced her ribs and sent her falling to the ground.  I managed to decapitate the unruly plant before it could press its attack further, though...leading us to now.

      “Seriously, sometimes it’s like you ask for trouble.  You’re going to piss me off if you get killed.”  I admonish, dragging my thoughts back to the future.  Carefully, I wipe the blood from her mouth with two fingers, rubbing it off on my cloak.  She blushes, though I attribute that to the fact that my mana is currently sowing her skin together.

      “Why?”  The brunette questions, giving me an inquisitive look.  I shrug.

      “I don’t like losing friends.”  I respond.  She breaks eye contact, staring at the ground.

      “...Friend.”  Lindsey whispers, so quietly I barely catch the word.  She’s sitting on the ground, her brown hair obscuring her face.  I sit down next to her as she turns her head to look at me.

      “Yes.  You’re my friend, Linds.”  I suspected it before, but her behavior only confirms it.  Something’s wrong.  A past event, maybe, but she’s...

       Lindsey’s lonely.

       But, more than that, she’s been alone.  I don’t know for how long, but it’s been long enough for her to wince at friendship.

      “Why?”  

       One word.  One question.  

       “Why wouldn’t I be your friend?”  Not quite avoidance.  A reverse probe.

       “Well, I-”

       “Nope.  Hush.”  I say, pressing my finger to her lips.  Her eyes widen slightly, but she doesn’t react further.  “I can already tell that you’re about to start being all self-deprecating and miserable, and I don’t want to hear it.”  The girl blushes.  “I’m your friend because I like who you are, Linds.  And because I saw something special in you that morning of our fight.” 

       “What was it?”  She whispers, an unidentifiable emotion on her face.

       “Haven’t figured it out myself.  But you’re different, and worth using a Healing Potion on.”  The words sound rather cheap to my ears, but her eyes light up in comprehension, as I thought they would.  An emotional and impulsive girl, yes, but she also has logic, and understands the sheer worth of a Healing Potion right now, and thusly understands the metaphor and what I am trying to get at.

       “But why?  What is there to like-”  I cut her off for the second time. 

       “Shh.” I’m trying to figure out how to phrase my words in a way that doesn’t make it look like I have a crush on the poor girl.  Simply because I don’t.  

      “I like your personality.  And you’re not terribly annoying.”  She gives me a half smile.  “When you attacked me for the first time, well, as we both know, you got terribly close to beating me.”  She nods.  “But I managed to turn the fight around through my Tracker vision.  In that kind of quieter duel, it gave me the advantage, because I could focus on your movements completely, and took away your advantage of using light.  You couldn’t figure it out, and lost your composure when I turned the fight around.”  

      “I knew what you were doing.”  Lindsey interjects.  “I just couldn’t counter it...”  

      “Same difference, no?”  I say, raising an eyebrow.  

      “...I guess.”

      “But...I couldn’t finish you off.  Not after you started showing just how scared you are, and how much you wanted to live.”  I sigh.  “I guess...Well, I had just gone through nearly an entire team with Anna’s help, earlier.  The problem wasn’t with killing.”

       “...But you just didn’t want to kill me.”  Lindsey finishes.  “I see.”  There’s an unreadable expression on her face, but I can see a hint of affection in her blue eyes.  

      “Yeah.  Basically.”  We sit in companionable silence for a few moments.  

      “...Thank you.”  The brunette finally murmurs.  I shake my head.

      “It’s not one of those things that require thanks, Linds.  Just trust.”  She gives me a contemplative look. 

      “Trust, huh?”  She bounces up, rising to her feet.  “I’ll try my best, Tyler.”  She brushes the back of her hand against mine once before running down the next corridor.

       “W-Wait!  Lindsey!”  I get up and sprint after her.

**  
  
**

     We clear that corridor, and it’s for the first time I notice that there is a number at the end, engraved onto both sides of the wall before the path opens up into a fork.

     “...Forty six?”  Lindsey asks, confused, when I point out the number to her.

     “Not sure.  I think it’s the number of the corridor.  Here, look!”  I dash ahead to the split in the path, pointing at the walls.  They’re labeled with numbers, too.

     “Fifty two...Fifty four?”  What do you think it means?”  Lindsey asks.  I shrug.

     “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just numbers on a wall.  If it turns out to be some sort of puzzle, we’ll backtrack and solve it later.”  I decide, prioritizing finding the end of the dungeon over numbers on a wall.

    “If you say so.”  Lindsey murmurs, not sounding convinced.  With the next wave of monsters, though, she seems to let it go.

**  
  
**

     “We need to work on your battle trance, Linds.”  I say a few minutes later.  The brunette glances at me before shaking her head, engaged in a fight with one of the monsters in the floor.

      “What for?”  The girl responds, slicing through a Warrior Skeleton.

      “It’ll increase your focus and critical thinking slightly.  More importantly, you’ll be, well, thinking in a different mindset.”  I say, trying to explain.  It’s hard to explain the benefits.  I just know they’re there.

      “So it’ll mess with my brain?  Definitely not interested.”  She responds dryly, as we run down the next corridor. 

      “No!  It’s a different...way of seeing the world.  And one you bring upon yourself.”  I disable a nasty spike trap on the run by firing off a magic bolt into the release pad.  

      “You want me to purposely mess up my mind?  No!”  A fired arrow, deflected by her rapier.  

      “Now you’re just making fun of me.”  I say, petulant, and she childishly sticks her tongue  out at me.  

      “Seriously, though, you need it.  You and Morena are the only ones who haven’t developed one, and it’s glaringly obvious.”  She makes a face, not convinced.  “It could legitimately save your life.  Take the Woodcutter, for example.  You were...ahem...”  Lindsey blushes, looking down at the ground.  “...incapacitated, twice.  If the boss had attacked during that time, then you would have died.”  The girl nods.

      “So what does it do exactly?  And how do I get it, if I decide I want it?”  She’s obviously interested now, even if she tries her best to hide it under a veneer of indifference.

      “It’s simple.  Just push your emotions down into your heart.  All of it.”  I say neutrally. 

      “...And that’s supposed to make you think differently?”  She asks, skeptically.

      “It’s easier said than done.  A complete battle trance will heighten observation skills, reflexes, hand-eye coordination, strategy, and intelligence.  Of course, you can only do it during, well, times of battle.  Your adrenaline's required for it to work.”  I explain, as she nods along.

     “So I’d need to be in a fight to practice...?  Seems...well, inefficient...”  

     “Yes, and more than that, it needs to be a serious fight.  Taking apart these Skeleton Warriors, for example-”  I casually bisect one of the said fighters, “-don’t give you the rush needed, unless you’re really struggling against one, which you shouldn’t...” 

     “So...if I were to fight you, for example...?”  I shudder at the anticipatory smile on her face.

     “Yeah, we could probably do a light duel, and it would be enough.  But -- not now!”  I parry a quick stab at my shoulder.  “Lindsey, we’re in a dungeon here!”  

     “Just testing your reflexes.”  She says sweetly, giving me an innocent smile. 

     I roll my eyes as a chime rings.  Sliding my hand across the air, I open up my menu and check the party menu, noting that Anna’s trying to create a group call, and that it’s labeled  Urgent.

     I press the green accept button without a second thought.  

     “What’s up, Anna?”  I ask.  Lindsey joins a second after, but we’re the only three in the call...”

     “Ambush.  Fifty-eighth corridor.  Phoenix’s group is with us, come quickly!  The pattern to the corridors is L6, M11, R8-”  Her voice is cut off as the call ends abruptly, but not before a girl’s scream breaks through.

    “Damnit!  Let’s go!  Lindsey, stay behind me!”  I sprint off, backtracking with no real idea of where I’m going, with only determination to protect my friends in my mind.

     “Wait-”  The brunette dashes after me, dragging me back.  “Wait, damnit!”  Her hand snags my wrist, though it’s not nearly enough to stop me.  I merely drag her along in my rush.

     “You idiot!”  She shrieks, her rapier nicking my side.  The sharp pain is enough for me to whirl around, drawing a sword.

      “What the hell are you doing?”  I yell at her.

      “Shut up!  Shut up and THINK for a second!”  The girl screams right back, not backing down.  “What’s your plan?!”

       I pause in my efforts to sever her hand from her arm.  “I-”

       “You don’t have one!  So stop and think about this for a second!  Running in circles will not save them!”  

       “But-”  I try to protest, frantic.

       “No!  You shut up!  Shut up until you get a grip!”  Lindsey shrieks, her cheeks flushed and angry.  My mouth snaps shut as she whirls around, her hand against the wall.

       “Seventy-six.  That’s the number of the corridor.”  She grabs my hand and pulls me along, moving at a quick walk.

       ...She’s not a Tracker...

       That realization forces me to yank her back.

       “W-Wha-”  She doesn’t get to finish her sentence as I hug her once, tightly.  Immediately my mind locks into place, my panicked emotions draining away.

       “You’re going to lead us into every trap in the dungeon.”  I say drily.  “Help me with this.  We’ll figure this out, together.”  I let her go, the girl stumbling.  

       “Thank you.”  I murmur.  With red cheeks, Lindsey nods meekly. 

       “Okay.  Seventy-six.  Let’s go back.”  We sprint back to where we started, as I deftly disable a poison gas trap with a fireball.  “Here, there’s a fork here!”  I skid to a halt.  There’s three corridors that lead back, and one corridor directly to the right of us...so left, if we were looking that way.

      “Check that one.”  I direct Lindsey to the nearest corridor.  “I’ll check the other three.”  She nods, sprinting to it.  I run to my own set of passages.

      “Sixty-eight...sixty-five...seventy.”  From left to right...but that’s right to left if we were running through them.  

     “What could they possibly mean?  We’re looking to find fifty eight.  How?  These numbers are related, somehow...”  Bitterly, I curse myself.  I had noticed the numbers earlier, and had even guessed their purpose...but I had never considered that they might have a secret function, and now I am paying the price.

    “Lindsey?”  I call out, realizing that I am alone.  I spin around, dashing to the corridor to look down it, but...

     ...She’s gone.

     “Lindsey?”  I step into the corridor.

     Immediately I detect the slight haze that signifies magic.   What the-

     “Tyler!”  Lindsey shrieks, scaring the hell out of me.  

     “W-Wha-”  She cuts me off, grabbing my arm and yanking me forward, into the small closed room.

     “The corridors changed.”  The brunette says urgently.  “Look!”  Indeed, not only are there now only two corridors, the numbers of the corridors have changed to sixty eight and sixty six.

     “Why didn’t we notice earlier?”  I ask.  

     “We weren’t looking for something like this, and we never backtracked.  I don’t think we would have ever noticed.”  Lindsey responds.  

     “Okay.  Okay.  So there are loops in this system.”  I pace the length of the room.  “This dungeon is a magic puzzle.”  An idea strikes me, and I grab Lindsey’s hand.  “Come!”

     Without further preamble, I drag her back into the corridor we came from, and immediately the same magic haze fills the air.  Lindsey gasps.

     We’re back in the room we came from, the one with three corridors.  

     “I think the progression is linear.”  I say, checking the numbered passageways to confirm that it is indeed the room I think it is.  “L6, M11, R8.”  

     “So these numbered corridors are the puzzle?  We have to figure out how to get back, right?  To fifty-eight?  It’s a math puzzle?”  Lindsey questions.  I nod.  

     “Let’s test these.  This way.”  I lead her to the right-most path, pulling her through.

     Nothing happens.

     “All the way down.  There’s another room at the far side.”  I run through it, sending a Fire Blast ahead of me to send a few Skeletal Warriors crashing to the ground.  Lindsey and I make quick work of the two others, our blades moving far faster than the mobs can keep up with.

     As we emerge into the room, the haze passes over us.  This room has three exits on the far side and no other exits on the nearest side.

     “The magic haze is triggered at the entrance to a corridor.”  I hypothesize.  “The real entrance, and not the exit.  Why?”

     “I don’t know, Tyler.”  Lindsey responds, already rushing to check the numbers.  This time, she is careful not to step inside and trigger the entrance warp.

    “...Sixty-two, fifty-nine, sixty-four, from right to left.”  She reports.

    “So left to right, if we were entering.  There’s a difference of five, and three between those.  Just like the last time.”  I hesitate.

    “6, 11, 8.  L6, M11, R8.”  Lindsey recites.  

    “...It’s so obvious now.”  It’s a math puzzle, just like I thought it was.  6, 11, 8, from left, middle, and right.  Those numbers are what you add to...what?

   “There’s one ending to the dungeon.  So the numbers must be derivative.”  I conclude.  

   “...What?”   Lindsey replies, confused.

   “Seventy.  Seventy minus six is sixty-four.  Seventy minus eleven is fifty-nine.  Seventy minus eight is sixty-two.”  It’s not addition, it’s subtraction, starting from whatever the ending corridor is.  Addition would be impossible, as there would be a ridiculous number of paths that would multiply to grow insanely quickly.  Basically, the dungeon branches off based on the numbered passageway, using 6, 11, and 8 to determine the generated corridors.

   “I’ll explain on the way.  Quickly!”  I tug Lindsey’s hand once, and then race down the sixty-fourth passage.    

    “What...?”  Lindsey’s still bewildered.  

    “Math.  We want to get to fifty-eight.  We started at seventy-six.  You’re only able to add or subtract 6, 8, and 11, though you can do it as many times as you want.  It’s a simple arithmetic problem.  All we have to do is subtract six three times.”  

    “How did you get that, though?”  The brunette asks, as we turn the corridor and bowl through a group of Skeletal Warriors.

    “Anna told us everything we needed to know.  L6, M11, R8.  Left corridor is numbered six less than the corridor in front of it.  Middle corridor is numbered eleven less than the corridor in front of it.  And so on.”  I explain, dragging Lindsey into the open room.

     “There!  Fifty-eight!”  I can hear the clash of weapons and the sound of magic, though our view is blocked by a junction.  

     I drop Lindsey’s hand and pull out my swords, enchanted gold in my left and tempered steel in my right.  Lindsey draws her own silver rapier.

     “Let’s go.”  And we dash down the pathway, throwing ourselves around the corridors.

**      Immediately, we’re thrown into a warzone.   
**


	11. Monochrome

I immediately stab the two nearest players, both mages.  My swords enter their backs and pierce their hearts, and they die without a sound.  

     Across the corridor, I see Anna and Phoenix, in a tight defensive position.  Anna is doing her best to negate the constant barrage of incoming spellfire while Phoenix holds off four sword-wielding players at once.  The other four members of our party...are on the ground, covered in various wounds.  

     _Morena..._

    She’s covered in blood, and unconscious, collapsed on the floor.  Tony and Raffy have multiple stab wounds, though seem to be struggling to stay awake.  Krona’s slumped against the wall, blood dripping from her mouth and a dagger wedged into her stomach, dozens of cuts covering her exposed skin.   At the very least, they’re all alive...but that will not last if Anna or Phoenix fall.

    Dozens of players oppose them.  There are only four players fighting Phoenix because that is all that can fit in the area.  Anna constantly fires bolts of energy to intercept the magic targeting Phoenix, herself, and the four players behind her.  All in all, the situation looks grim.

    Three precise Fire Blasts fired from my gold sword, slamming right into the unsuspecting backs of groups of players, rectifies that situation abruptly.  Golden sandstone, bodies, and steel fly everywhere as I decimate the back row of the enemy group, which seem to be entirely composed of mages.  This should free up Anna significantly.

     While taking out at least a dozen players, killing a few, I have also drawn the attention of many others, and they turn around and break off from their group, targeting Lindsey and I.  I hope that Anna is able to turn the tides with Phoenix now that I’ve distracted or incapacitated nearly half of the opposing group, but...

      _This is going to be tough._

     Immediately, I parry two lightning bolts fired at me by nearby mages before returning fire with a powerful Fire Blast of my own, aiming to kill both.  They counter it with an irritating ease, but they don’t anticipate Lindsey darting into their midst.  She manages to stab one in the throat before whirling around and slashing at the other.  However, the young woman backs off and fires a lightning bolt at Lindsey, who shudders as her blade conducts the attack into her.

     A single Fire Bolt is loosed from my golden sword, and the enemy mage, too focused on Lindsey, has her head blown off by the attack.  

     Lindsey barely recovers in time to deflect three opening strikes from a nearby swordsman, but by that point I have moved in and cover for her, effectively forcing the lone boy back.  

     A blue orb is launched at me.  I dodge it, before sending a Fire Blast in return.  The mage dodges, but the people behind him don’t, and take the hit.  

    Lindsey steps in front of me and quickly parries several blows from three people at once, neatly sidestepping an axe swing.  The person in question is left open, and Lindsey hurls a quickly-charged Fire Bolt into his face.  Sadly, the man’s mask absorbs the majority of the blow, but it temporarily forces him out of the fight.

    With a rapid strike pattern, I disarm and decapitate one of the remaining swordsmen, Lindsey making quick work of the other.  While numerous, Lindsey and I have far more speed, and greatly outclass these attackers.

     A few mages notice us, and begin firing elemental spells down the hallway.  I absorb the fire attacks using my golden sword, but I don’t have the mana to return fire and Lindsey and I are forced to duck around the corner, letting the attacks impact on the wall.

     Wordlessly, Lindsey throws me a Mana Potion, and I swallow it quickly, nodding in thanks.  She doesn’t acknowledge me, and it’s with a shock that I take in her blank eyes, the small smile on her face.

     _Battle Trance...?_

    We dash back around the corner and slide under the second barrage of spells, Lindsey’s rapier moving nearly too fast for me to see.  I launch a Fire Blast down the corridor, though it’s blocked by the energy bolts that are being returned far faster than I can counter.  Abandoning all thoughts of a magical firefight, I throw one of my swords down the hallway before drawing a knife and throwing that, too.

     Both pierce right through the barrage of energy spells and find their way into two of the quartet of mages opposing us, greatly reducing the amount of magic bolts in the air.  With little difficulty, Lindsey and I make our way down the corridor at a breakneck speed before the other two can react appropriately, though one ineffectually fires off a few close-range Fire Bolts that miss.  Two efficient slashes and both are down seconds later.

     Immediately, Lindsey blocks a thrown dagger, and I snatch the spinning blade out of the air and hurl it at a nearby, unsuspecting swordsman.  The blade sinks right into his skull, and he explodes into crystals.

     Deciding that our effectiveness here has been maximized, and that our goal - creating chaos - has been achieved, I quickly swipe open my inventory and extract the bottle of alcohol that I had previously confiscated at Lindsey, hurling it at the roof above the enemy group and showering them with flammable liquid.

      Lindsey, following my train of though, launches a Fire Bolt, and a significant portion of our attackers find themselves on fire and covered in burns within seconds.  We quickly duck around the corner and I yank Lindsey down, pulling her back out of the fifty-eighth corridor.  

      We emerge back into the empty room, and I pull her down the left corridor instead, the one labeled with an engraved fifty-six.  A few Fire Blasts are enough to disable the sole arrow trap and scatter the Skeletal Warriors blocking the passageway.  I pull out a second Mana Potion on the run, forcing the brown liquid down my throat.

       This time, Lindsey and I find our way into a room sparsely filled with cacti.  Remembering Lindsey’s experience with the plants, we carefully avoid them and jump over a pit of quicksand as I lead her to the fiftieth corridor.  Lindsey, who has caught onto my plan, no longer protests but moves with me as we slash through more Skeletal Warriors and avoid a tough Sandstorm Crab.

      The last room only has two passageways, but one is marked with a fifty-eight, just as I calculated, and we dash into it.

      We’re on Anna and Phoenix’s side now, and coming up to them quickly, but...things aren’t going well for them.

      Phoenix is on the ground, blood soaking his dark blue longcoat.  Anna repulses attackers and magic with a brutal whirlwind, forcing the nearest attackers back, but I can tell she’s at her limit.  Lindsey fires off a Mana Regeneration bolt that hits her, but it won’t be enough.

      Three Fire Blasts come down the corridor, but I step in front of the exhausted witch and absorb the blasts on my golden sword.  There are only about fifteen attackers left, but they all seem to be in fit fighting condition.  The fire I caused still roars behind them, and occasionally one of the players nervously look back at it, watching as it effectively finishes off everyone we’ve left behind.

      “Heal Morena, Anna.  I’ll stall them.”  I murmur.  “And, here.”  I snap a brown Mana Potion off my belt and toss it to her.  She falls back, flicking the cap off of it.

      “I’ll help.”  Lindsey says, quickly coming up next to me.  “They’re in bad shape, Tyler, but they’ll live.”  The brunette says, and I know she’s referring to our fallen party members.

       “Alright.  We’ll stop them from coming to further harm.  If we can get Morena into this fight, we can end everything.”  I respond, searching my mind for an effective way to stall.  It’s a pity I’ve run out of alcohol, though, noting its effectiveness, it is certainly a strategy I will be pursuing when we get back to safety.

      “Okay.”  And then there’s no time to talk, because two shield-users are rushing us, with the intent to force us back.  I glance towards our fallen party members.  Losing ground would put them at risk.  Not happening.

       Lindsey launches a Fire Blast with her free hand.  It doesn’t stop them, but it impacts off of the right shield and slows the player for a second.  

       Taking the chance, Lindsey darts in, kicking off of the shield and stabbing the left shield user in the head, just above his ear.  The man explodes into crystal, but Lindsey pays the price, taking a powerful shield bash directed at her side.  I manage to catch her out of the air, though I’m forced back a few steps.  

       It is at this time an electrical bolt is loosed from across the corridor and I am helpless to prevent it from hitting Lindsey directly in the chest, the electricity redirecting itself into me as I am still holding the girl.  The brunette spasms once, and collapses, but I immediately throw off the effects of the electrocution and use my enchanted golden sword to break the connection.  While gold is a conductor of electricity, I have a rubber guard specifically to prevent this, and manage to block the remainder of the long-lasting attack unharmed.

      Lindsey, though, is unconscious and paralyzed.  I’m surprised that she isn’t dead.  The magician who launched the attack must be at quite a low level, though, apparently, opportunistic.  

      “You’ll pay for that.”  I say darkly.  The fourteen players oppose from me laugh.

      “You?”  One man asks, still chuckling.  “What do you think you’ll do?  It’s true that you managed to take out most of our group, but they were all weaklings.  We’re the best of the best, here, and a little child like you will not even slow us down.”  

      His arrogance is what sets me off.

      I don’t bother to respond to his comment.  I merely close my eyes, taking a deep breath.

       _Time to kill._

      When I open my eyes, it is to a monochromatic world, with only glimpses of red.

**  
  
**

      Just as there is a second level to swordsmanship, and a second level to magic, there is a second level to the Battle Trance.

     Not everyone can do it, not at all.  And it takes a very specific mindset to activate.

      _...Ruthlessness.  Ambition._

     It is firmly agreed upon by everyone that it is truly evil, and thus, it is referred to as Darkness.  Because with a further enhancement of the senses, thought processes, and reaction time, there comes something far worse.

  _Loss of humanity._

     When I was thirteen, I gained this ability.  But the process that allowed me to unlock this secret was one I would never wish upon anyone.

     It was simple, really.  There were only four conditions to having it.  

     Firstly, you had to be a Tracker.  Less than a tenth of the population have the gift, which is a fairly harsh limitation.

     Secondly, you must have unlocked full mastery of the first stage of the Battle Trance.  This was accomplished when I was eight.

     Thirdly, you must have a certain level of preexisting ruthlessness.  A dark side, so to speak.  I easily meet those requirements.

     And, finally...

      _ **You had to kill in cold blood**_.

**  
  
**

     When I open my eyes, I do not see people.  I see targets.

     “The human body is truly a fragile one.”  I say, my voice dull and empty.  “The skin that protects your body systems is soft and easy to cleave.  The bones that allow you movement can be brittle and easy to shatter.  The muscles that control your actions are easy to tear apart.  The blood that transfers oxygen through you, easy to spill.  The heart that pumps your body, weak and easy to disrupt.  The brain, while protected by the thickest bone in the human body, is dangerously vulnerable when exposed and easy to rip apart.”

      “Tell me, have you ever tore the beating heart of another human out of them as they watched, blood spurting from the gaping hole in their chest?  Have you ever peeled the face off of a person as they screamed silently, their throat crushed?  Have you ever ripped off the fingers and toes of a person, one at a time, and forced it into their mouth?”  A smile forms on my face as the targets’ focus dissolves and as their mouths open in horror.

      “Allow me to demonstrate.”  I immediately dash forward, the targets frozen in place.  Without preamble, my blade cleaves right through the chest of the shield user as I vault over him, the hilt released.  My free hand grabs the young male by the neck and pulls with violent force, the cracking sound of the bone evident to everyone in the hallway.

      I spin the dying teenager around, grabbing the hilt embedded in his sternum.  With a mighty pull I slash left and then right, bifurcating the target and grabbing the upper half of his body.   With a single swing I shower the opposing group in blood, just before the dead male explodes into shards of crystal that disappear into the air.

      “One down.”  I say, a smile plastered on my face.  “Who is next?”  

**  
  
**

      The violence is beautiful.  

      I didn’t know just how useful fire magic was until I began using it as a finisher.

       It’s always entertaining to cook someone from the inside out, to literally boil their blood.

**  
  
**

      “Last one.”  I say, discarding the head of my most recent victim shortly before it, too, disappears.  The final target, a young female, stares at me in horror, visibly shaking.  

      “P-Please...”  I don’t even let her finish speaking, my blade stabbing straight into her midriff as I sprint forward.  She doesn’t react, merely chokes out blood as the sword pierces her.  Instead of further dicing her up, I kick her off of my blade, and she lands in the still-burning alcohol fire.  Her screams last for a few seconds before the girl succumbs to a combination of fire and blood loss, a shattering sound indicating her death.

      “T-T-Tyler-”  More targets?  Hadn't noticed the group of seven behind me.  Delicious.  I whirl around, already swinging-

      “Tyler!”  The girl deflects my blade with a silver rapier, but loses balance.  I stab at her throat, but she dodges and lunges forward, dropping her blade.  What is her plan-

     She catches my next swing in a firm grip, blood dripping down her palm, and leans forward and crushes her lips to mine.

     W-What-

     Color returns, and Lindsey’s _kissing_ me.


	12. True Battle Trance

 “You’re an idiot.”  Lindsey tells me, sitting next to me.

    “I know.”  I reply, stitching together the broken skin on her hand with my light blue mana.  The spot where she grabbed my sword was slashed open, nearly completely separating her fingers.

    “You scared the hell out of me.”  

    “I know.”  I say tiredly, her hand healed.  I give her a Healing Crystal for use on the burn on her chest, and for her various smaller cuts.

    “You almost killed me.”  The brunette says quietly.

    “I’m sorry.”  I reply sincerely.  Lindsey uses her newly healed hand to punch my shoulder, though the hit is far lighter than I expect or deserve.

    “I forgive you.”  She says, tiredly resting her head on my lap.  Her brown irises meet mine, and we stare at each other before her face pinkens and she turns away.

    “You realize we need to move soon, right?”  I ask, amused.  Anna is just about done healing the remainder of our party, and a few are stretching out the kinks in their muscles from their brief time in forced unconsciousness.     

    “Yeah.”  Lindsey responds quietly, sounding exhausted.  “Just another minute, please.”

    “Okay.”  I whisper.  

    When it’s time to go, I let the girl climb onto my back and rest her head on my shoulder as we walk out, leaving the sandstone dungeon behind.

**  
  
**

    The next days are spent in harsh training.  We purposely go into the dungeon as a full party to create massive mob parties, and tear through them.  Morena manages to trigger her Phoenix Form during a particularly intense battle involving hundreds of Skeletal Warriors and Sandstone Golems.  

    Everyone is filled with determination to get stronger, faster.  The most recent player fight has reminded us of our vulnerability...

    Above all, I am repeatedly reminded not to drop into my second Battle Trance stage.  Krona, for one, is a bit more distant than she already is, tending to avoid being in the same room with me.  I don’t blame her, though, and she is still friendly on the occasions that we do talk.  Phoenix and Anna, on the other hand, often shoot me calculating glances.  The latter, of course, is only waiting for a good moment to corner me and coerce me into spilling my secrets, which is why I hang around Lindsey as much as possible.  The additional attention, while flustering her slightly, doesn’t seem to displease her.

     I chalk off her extra blushing and stuttering to my clinginess.  

     Morena works the hardest out of everyone, seemingly determined to prove her place in the party.  

     I can’t help but wonder if she’s jealous.

     Tony and Raffy open up a little more and drop the silent act, interacting a little more freely with the group.  Raffy’s crush on Morena becomes blatantly obvious to everyone except the girl in question.  

     Two weeks after the Great Release, everyone in our party is at least Level 30.  

     ...The average player level is 15.

**  
  
**

     Inevitably, of course, Anna manages to separate me from Lindsey.  Resigning myself to the conversation, I invite Lindsey to listen.

     Why?  Because I trust her, I suppose.  

     “So.”  Anna says, as she shuts the bedroom door.  I walk over to the king-sized bed and sit down, fidgeting with the soft, cream-colored sheets.

     “What’s going on?’  Lindsey asks, confused.  Well, I didn’t invite her.  I dragged her in.  But it’s close enough.

     “You’re about to hear a few secrets of mine, Lindsey.  Things you need to know about my Battle Trance.”  I sigh.  “From there on, it’s up to you to decide whether or not you still want to be here.  Whether or not you still want to be my friend.”

     Her frightened eyes meet my weary ones.  “What could possibly be so drastic?”  She asks.

     “You’re about to find out.  It’s...really bad.”  I reply.  She crosses the room to sit next to me on the bed.

     “I won’t walk away.”  Lindsey vows, before she gently takes my hand into one of her own.  “I promise.”

     “We’ll see.”  I murmur.

     “I won’t!”  She hisses fiercely.     

     “Okay.”  I squeeze her hand.  

     “When you’re ready, Tyler.”  Anna says.  I nod.

     “Well...you all saw my true Battle Trance two weeks ago.”  I notice Lindsey still shivers at the mention, though she is getting very good at repressing it.  I don’t blame her.  I was seconds away from killing her when she kissed me.

    ...I still don’t know what to think about that.

    I don’t know what she wants me to think about it, either.  It was probably purely professional.  That’s all it was.  A desperate attempt to snap me out of my Battle Trance.  It worked, didn’t it?

    I won’t question it for now.  It’s much easier that way.  

    “Anna, you know this already.  But I’ll restate it for Linds.”  The redhead nods in acknowledgement, though she narrows her eyes thoughtfully at my nickname.  Lindsey’s eyes dart back and forth between us, nervously.

    “There are four requirements to having the second level of a Battle Trance.”  I start off.  “It’s the last two requirements that make it a distinctly evil ability.”  

    “But it doesn’t make the person using it evil.  In the end, it’s just a tool to survive.”  Anna interjects.  I glance at her, startled.  I didn’t expect her to say that, nor did I think of that myself.  It’s an unexpected show of support.

    “Yes, that is true.  Though it is a tool generally geared towards...more evil purposes.  The standard Battle Trance is a mindset that will try to see you through the day.  However...the second level, or True Battle Trance, is the mindset that tries to see you slaughter your opponents throughout any means possible.  It can get sadistic.”  Anna nods thoughtfully.  

    “The first two steps to unlocking the True Battle Trance are quite simple - be a Tracker, and master the Battle Trance.  You’ve unlocked the Battle Trance yourself, Linds, but you haven’t had the chance to gain the experience needed to master it.  It can take years.”  I explain.

     “How long did it take you?”  Lindsey asks.

     “Three hours.  I’ll explain why in a bit.”  Anna’s eyes widen.

     “T-Three hours?!”  Anna gasps.  “H-How?  It took me over six months!”  I shrug.  

     “In a bit.”  I assure her.  She doesn’t look satisfied with that answer, but nods anyways.

     “Since you don’t know, Linds, I’ll explain.  The Battle Trance isn’t some magical ability.  It’s literally just a focused state of thought...though it does drain your physical energy, and it will exhaust you.  Too long, and you’ll die.  Generally, the safe time to use it is in half hour bursts, with an hour’s rest in between.  All you have to do, once you’ve realized the ability to do it, is concentrate, and you’ll find that it comes to you naturally.  Getting it is really simple.  Get forced into a combat situation that, without its assistance, would lead to your death.”  Lindsey nods, following.

    “Though...”  Anna adds.  “The safe time to use it is in half hour bursts, yes, but realistically you can use it for an hour or so without serious trouble.  You’ll be dead exhausted after, though, so it really isn’t recommended.  Most people can go thirty minutes with only slight fatigue.  About an hour and a half would put you out for a week when you break the spell.  Two hours...?  That would kill you.”  The redhead shrugs.  “Your body just can’t handle the strain, and your heart stops.”  

      “And that’s at Battle Trance mastery.”  I explain.  “For beginners, it’s half the time.  I really should’ve warned you about that before I told you about the Battle Trance, because that fight lasted nearly thirty minutes.  It’s lucky you got put out by that lightning bolt, or you might’ve gone on for too long.”  Lindsey nods, suddenly looking relieved.

     “The point is, the Battle Trance is dangerous.  Which is why it’s not taught in school.  A survival weapon, yes, but it’s really, really risky to most people.  Following?”  I ask Lindsey, who nods.

      “Tyler’s a master, obviously.  I am too.  I’m almost positive that Phoenix and Krona are, as well.  I was forced into using it when I was eleven, mastered it six months later.  Generally, that’s considered an extremely fast time.  Probably one of the best.”  Anna informs Lindsey.  

     “How do you gain mastery?”  Lindsey asks.  

     “By using it.  You can only use it in fights, though, which is why most people take their time in mastering it.”  I glance at Anna.  “Six months would mean hours of fighting every day.”  

     “Yeah.  Basically.  But three hours?”  Anna asks, then gasps in realization.  “You didn’t-”

     “I think I know what you’re trying to ask.  If I’m right, then yes.  Yes, I did.”

     “B-But how are you even alive-?”  We’re cut off by Lindsey.

     “What are you guys talking about?”  The bewildered brunette interjects.

     “Tyler kept his Battle Trance running for three hours.”  She looks at me for confirmation, and I nod.  This answer only serves to confuse Lindsey further.

     “But I thought you could only have it for two hours, or you died?”  She asks.  Anna nods.

     “It’s supposed to be like that.  Clearly, Tyler’s special.”  The magician shoots me a sideways look.  I shrug.

     “Apparently.  But, anyways, let’s get serious, here.  The third and fourth conditions.”  Immediately, things turn somber, so much so that the feeling is palpable.  “Thirdly, you must have a certain ruthlessness.”  Lindsey swallows.  “That’s where the evil comes in.  You can’t fake it.  It must actually be, on some level, part of it.”  

     “B-But...that’s not possible.  You saved me.  D-Didn’t you?  Compassion?  Pity, even?  Y-You can’t have that if you’re...ruthless.”  Lindsey stammers.

     “Lindsey, you’re the first person I’ve felt compassion for since I found the ability to have the Extended Battle Trance.  Frankly, I’m surprised it activated at all.”  I give her a sad smile.  “Eight years of nothing but coldness does that to you, I think.”  Anna chokes.

      “T-Then...you mastered it when you were-”

      “Eight years old.”  I raise an eyebrow at her.  “You didn’t know my true age, did you?  What were you going to say?”  

      “Just a child.”  Anna murmurs.  

      “And then the last condition, far worse than the last.”  Lindsey shivers next to me.  She’s shown remarkable restraint and maturity in the last twenty minutes.  Let’s see if that continues.

     “You have to kill someone in cold blood.  Not motivated by anything but for the sake of senseless killing.”  Lindsey gasps, and even Anna pales slightly.

     “T-Then...”  The brunette starts.

     “Yes.  I met that condition.  Three times.”  The hand held in mine trembles slightly, and I loosen my grip enough so that she can slip her hand out if she wants to.

     I expect her to, actually, which is why I’m surprised when she clutches it tighter.  She meets my startled glance with a look filled with warmth.

     ...What...?

     “What happened?”  Anna breaks the silence.  I stare at her, taking deep breaths to calm myself and to keep the flashbacks at bay.  When I’m ready, I start talking.

     “...Eight years ago, I had a best friend.”

**  
  
**

      _“Hey!  Wait up!”  I run towards the golden-haired figure racing through the rain, leaping over benches and dodging around poles in a desperate attempt to escape me.  Unfortunately for her, though, I’m just as agile as she is, and I have no problem chasing her through the onslaught._

_“Go away!”  A high-pitched, feminine voice screams back, but I ignore her, nimbly scaling a fence to cut the corner on her.  I can hear her pounding footsteps slow to a stop as I sprint down a deserted alleyway, red and pink splotches of spray paint coating the walls in loopy handwriting.  I’m in the me...tro...polis, sent by my parents to train for The Great Release.  I should be in the middle of a weapons throwing lesson right now, but my fellow classmate stormed out and I couldn’t help but follow, knowing how dangerous the conditions are now._

_I’m very fit.  This is what the results of extensive physical training have done, after all, and as I round the corner and find the girl gasping for air on her knees, I’m not even out of breath._

_“...What’s wrong?”  I ask inquisitively.  The golden-haired girl looks up, tears streaming down her face._

_“W-What...d-do you...want?”  She’s a mess, her emerald-green eyes streaked with red from her crying.  Her uniform, white blouse and deep blue skirt, is soaked and sticks to her skin.  Her normally neat, straight, long hair is plastered to her face, and to her back._

_“Right now, some shelter, and for you to come with me.  Come on.”  I stick out a hand to her.  She glares at me, refusing to accept it._

_“No!  Leave me alone.”  She shouts back, her voice dying down to a whimper.  I...want to stay and help, but I don’t think she’d appreciate that much._

_“O...kay.”  I hesitate.  She looks up at me, clearly startled.  I don’t think she expected me to take her up on that offer._

_“But here, take this.”  I strip off my black rainjacket and wrap it around her frame, her eyes widening._

_“W-Won’t you get...cold?”  The girl asks.  I’m already feeling the bitter frost of the rain coming down in sheets, but I repress it.  And the girl was going to sit out here, too.  Ridiculous._

_“Not as cold as you are.”  I dodge the question.  “You sure you don’t want to come back to school?”  A refusal is already on her lips, so I hastily amend my question.  “Or to somewhere else, if you’re not up for school right now.”_

_“I...If we c-could g-go to t-the swings, please?”  Her teeth are chattering, her lips already a blue._

_“In this rain?”  I try to look up, but that rather hurts, so I quickly avert my gaze.  She looks disappointed.  “Okay.”  I’m not averse to the swings, either, and I’m definitely happy with my choice when she breaks into a hesitant, but genuine smile._

_“T-Thank you...”  She cautiously offers her hand to me in a clear gesture of friendship._

_I accept her hand.  It’s soft and warm, though.  A small gasp bubbles out from her throat, but I pretend not to notice._

_“T-That way, r-right?”  She points South-East._

_“Y-Yeah.  About three blocks down.”  Without further ado, I pull her along, and she sticks close to me, hiding from the gazes of the few adults staring out of windows.  No one comes outside to question us, as expected.  No one’s willingly going to go into the rain, after all._

_We walk in companionable silence, though, in fairness, the rain makes conversation fairly difficult.  If she says anything, I can’t hear it, though I do catch her glances at me._

_“Here we are.”  I tell her, and she lets go of my hand and races for the swings in delight.  “H-Hey, wait up...!”  I dash after her, feeling a vague sense of deja vu, but this time she’s running towards, and not away._

_She jumps onto the swing, and almost slides off because of how slick the surface is, but she catches herself on the chain just in time.  I can see the distaste on her face as the back of her skirt gets soaked from the quickly accumulating rainwater.  I carefully shake out my swing seat before clambering onto it.  I’m going to get wet, but there’s no need to sit in a puddle._

_I kick myself off, the motion coming naturally, as does the swinging, hypnotic motion of my legs to get me in the air.  For a few moments, I feel free, flying in the rain, but my heart stops as I look at my companion._

_She doesn’t know how to swing, though she makes a significant effort, kicking her legs back and forth.  Our eyes catch and I can read the longing in them, clear as day.  Without effort, I hop out of the swing mid-flight and roll as I hit the ground, jogging up to her as she unsuccessfully tries to get herself in the air._

_“Here, I’ll push you.”  At her eager nod, she wraps her small fingers around the chain and I place my hands on the back of her seat and pull back a little, before abruptly letting go and giving her a basic, though small, start.  Her delighted peals of laughter spur me on, and I place my hand on the small of her back as she comes within range and gently push her forward, sending her soaring into the air._

_...This is actually pretty fun.  Not the motion, which is rather repetitive, but listening to her laughter.  She’s genuinely happy, a far cry from the sobbing girl of twenty minutes ago.  That alone makes this enjoyable._

_Is this what real friendship feels like?  I mean, I have ‘acquaintances’, but nothing like this..._

_“O-Okay, I’m done now.”  The petite girl says, and I slowly bring her to a stop.  She hops off just before the swing is done, possibly in an imitation of me, but she tumbles clumsily on the grass and flops onto the ground._

_“Are you okay?”  I ask, concerned, but my fears are allayed when she jumps back up, giggling.  If I needed confirmation of her joy, her wide smile, flushed cheeks, and sparkling eyes would be enough to convince me._

_“T-Thank you v-very much...”  I realize she’s waiting for my name._

_“Tyler.  Tyler Nakamura.”  She curtsies, as is social protocol.  I’ve never been one for that, though._

_“Lily.”  She doesn’t give me her last name, whether by accident or choice, I don’t know, but I don’t push her forward in case it is the latter._

_“Think you’re ready for school again?”  I notice her grin fades somewhat upon hearing that, and I’m ready to retract the statement, but determination sets in her eyes._

_“O...kay.  But...can you...s-sit with me?”  The poor girl is terribly shy, but I don’t mind.  It’s a welcome change from the rambunctious behavior of most of my fellow classmates._

_“Definitely.”  Yup, anything to get away from the distracting antics of the immature boys that sit around me.  “And...if you want, we could come back tomorrow, and I could teach you how to swing like I do?”  At that, her smile comes back, full force.  I decide she has a very pretty smile._

_“Yes, p-please!”  I smile back, offering my hand to her.  This time, she takes it without hesitation._

_“Let’s go, then.”  And I pull her off in the general direction of the school.  We’re not in a hurry, though, too busy talking and laughing like normal children._

**  
  
**

     I stop, silent tears falling down my cheeks.  

     “C-Can we finish this later?  Please.  Please.”  My voice grows increasingly desperate as Anna and Lindsey glance, clearly bewildered, at each other.  Lindsey, in particular, looks a little wistful, and her demeanor only reminds me of Lily.

     “Alright.”  Lindsey says, squeezing my hand once before letting go.  With a final glance at me, the two girls file out, Anna shutting the door to the bedroom behind her.

      Lily...

      What would I be like, if you were still here with me?

_It’s my fault..._


	13. The First

 I can never fully get her out of my mind, no matter how hard I tried.

      And I tried so hard, too, back then.  

**  
  
**

      _“Tyler.”  Blake, one of my older ‘acquaintances’, says in a demanding, nearly patronizing tone, “Why are you sitting with...that?”  Lily and I are eating lunch under the shade of a pine tree, minding our own business and trying to avoid people and the sound they inevitably bring.  The black-haired, stout male is seven years older than me, but he has a habit of picking on people.  His family is exceedingly wealthy.  This apparently gives him the right to insult others freely._

_“With all due respect,” I begin, “-That is to say, none-”  I put my hand on the sheath at my waist, “-Why are you here, and what do you want?”  A crowd quickly forms, anticipating a fight.  “I really want to have lunch in relative peace, so if you’re just here to be a pest, please flit away like the bug you are and stop belittling my friend.”_

_“Excuse me?”  He replies, his whole body radiating arrogance, “Irritating little brat, aren’t you?  Well...I guess I’ll just have to teach you a lesson.”  He’s fifteen.  I’m eight.  And the crowd, judging by the excited expressions on their face, seem okay with it.  Entertainment._

_“N-No!”  Lily darts in front of me.  “W-W-We’re sorry for a-any disrespect.”_

_Blake spits at her.  The crowd explodes into laughter as Lily stares, stunned._

_“Disgusting girl.  Butt out, would you?”  I pull Lily back as she trembles, about to cry._

_“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”  I snap.  “Oh, wait, there isn’t anyone fat enough to do that.”  By the look of rage in his eyes, it’s clear that I’ve hit a soft spot._

_“Why, you-”  He pulls out a two-handed sword.  “Vermin like you shouldn’t exist.”  I unsheath both of my blades before immediately diving to the left as his sword comes down in a hammer-like movement, crushing the ground.  Lily quickly backs up, clearly not willing to fight.  It’s fine; I didn’t want her to._

_Blake’s movements are clumsy, slow, but pack a lot of strength.  In other words, exactly what I’m being trained to counter.  I deflect his next swing with a quick tap of my blade, enough to shift it about an inch, before taking one step left and ramming the tip of my sword right into his genitals._

_He shrieks and collapses as the crowd falls silent in shock.  That...was far easier than I thought it would be.  Huh._

_“My, you really are weak, aren’t you?”  I kick him in the face and he groans.  “And this is for Lily.”  I spit in his face and turn around._

_“Let’s go, Lily.”  I sheath my swords and storm off, her tentative footsteps following me.  Behind us, the voices of the crowd rises, applause marking our retreat into the school building._

_“I’m s-sorry for causing a-all this trouble.”  She whispers.  I stop and stare at her in shock.  Her head is lowered, blonde hair covering her face._

_“Don’t be ridiculous.”  I admonish her.  “This isn’t your fault, not at all.”_

_“I-If I wasn’t t-there, then h-he would have left y-you alone...”  It’s a fair point._

_“If he wasn’t a natural jerk, then we would have had a peaceful lunch.”  In front of a water fountain, I assist her in wiping the remaining spit off her face.  It truly disgusts me that people like Blake exist._

_“I-I guess.”  She doesn’t sound convinced.  I pat her shoulder._

_“If you really want to blame someone, you can blame me.  Blake was...my acquaintance.”  I make a face, frowning.  “He wanted me to join his swords club.  I didn’t want to.  He challenged me to a fight and I beat him.  When I was six.  That didn’t slide with him, and he doesn’t like me, but he used to respect me.”_

_“L-Looks like y-you’re still better.”  She says, giggling, and I smile._

_“Haha, yeah.  He’s still too slow.”  We walk back to the classroom._

_“D-Did you...r-really mean what you said?  A-About us being f-friends?”  Her eyes are still on the ground._

_“Oh, Lily.”  I pull her into a hug, and wince when she flinches, but I don’t let go.  “Yes.  Of course.”  I can feel her warm tears on my shoulder._

_She cries for a good minute, sobs wracking her small frame, before stepping back, tears still in her eyes._

_“S-Sorry.”  Lily says, sniffling, but she can’t hold back a small, genuine smile, which makes me laugh in turn._

_“It’s no big deal.”  But it is, and we both know it._

_Friends...?_

     I guess that’s what it was.  Losing Lily hurt so much that I forcefully separated myself from emotions, abandoning the concept of friendship.

     But those feelings are returning now.  For a moment, the image of an eight-year old Lily is replaced by thoughts of a quiet brunette.

      _Lindsey..._

     The two are startlingly alike in their demeanor.  I’ll have to watch more closely.  Something’s bothering Lindsey, and I want to get to the bottom of it.  But if Lily and Lindsey are really alike...

      _Friends._

      

     Another week passes before I feel ready to explain to everyone.  They’re my party, and they trust me to watch their backs, and I trust them in turn.  If I can’t trust them with a secret, I should not be trusting them with my life.

     Everyone gathers in the living room of the inn we reside in.  I stand up, drawing the expectant gazes of everyone

     “I owe all of you an explanation for what happened three weeks ago.  A few of you were unconscious when I slipped into my True Battle Trance, so let me explain what’s happened, if you don’t already know.”  I quickly summarize the events of the massive fight.  Morena watches me carefully, curiosity alight in her chocolate irises.  

      “And most of you-”  Meaning Morena, “-don’t know what the True Battle Trance is, so I’ll quickly explain that.  By the end of my explanation, I’m shaking slightly, though determination still burns in my core.  No one looks surprised - if they are, they’re hiding it very well.  Our resident brown-haired mage stares at me, trying to probe my thoughts.  I quickly put on an indifferent mask.   

      “So...I killed three innocent people in cold blood, though not without...well.  You can call it revenge.  But, by that definition, it shouldn’t have counted, right?  Let me explain.”  My explanation of Lily is enough for Morena to solve the mystery and her eyes widen, before a slightly pitying look finds its way into her irises.  But, prevalently, her eyes radiate understanding.  She’s figured it out, and apparently forgives me.  I can only hope that the others do as well.

     “Well...Here goes.”  

**  
  
**

    _“See you tomorrow, Lily?”  I ask hopefully, as we come to the fork in the path.  One will take her home, and one will take me home.  It’s been three months since I’ve met the golden-haired girl, and...there’s a strange understanding between us.  Mutual trust and love, of the most innocent type._

_Friendship._

_“Y-Yeah.”  Most of her nervousness has dissipated around me, too, though it comes back in full force when others are around.  For some reason, though, she stutters a lot less when I’m around her, sort of like I give her confidence.  I don’t mind her verbal tics.  They’re simply a part of who Lily is, and I’ve completely accepted her._

_“Well...bye.”  I say, a small smile on my face._

_“Wait.”  Her hand catches my shoulder.  I turn around, confused.  There’s a faint blush on her countenance, something I’ve grown accustomed to.  I like it; it makes her look cute._

_“C-Could you come home with me?  I...kind of w-want to show you something.”  Hm.  I’d be a little late, but my parents wouldn’t mind.  They’re well aware that I’m capable of self-defense._

_“Sure.”  Unexpectedly, she grabs my hand, lacing our fingers together.  The warmth of the gesture is certainly not unwelcome, though.  With a shy smile, she leads me down the road to her apartment._

_In Main City, everyone lives in apartments, somewhere.  Skyscrapers jut into the sky as far as the eye can see, though I know from experience that most of the rooms are filled with mere NPCs.  Most of them are kind, and will give food for you if you ask them politely.  I’ve had the misfortune of running into a few rather cruel ones, and I’ve needed to fight my way to escape.  It’s fine, though, as it’s done wonders for my skill.  Too bad you can’t level up until the Great Release, which is still not going to happen for another seven years._

_She pulls me into a nondescript apartment building and takes me to the elevator, and we wait in comfortable silence as we wait for the carriage to come back to our floor._

_When the chime rings and the door opens, she pulls me on, though not with the same energy as before.  She seems...nervous._

_“Is something wrong?”  I ask.  But she shakes her head and gives me a small smile._

_“Nope.”  She genuinely means it.  I can tell when she’s lying, by the way her eyes suddenly flit towards the ground, and when she fidgets with the hem of her skirt.  Neither of those signs appear._

_The doors open, and she pulls me ahead and down a hallway, coming up to a door labeled ‘305.’_

_“My home.”  Lily says, grabbing at something by her throat.  It’s then that I notice that she has a tiny golden chain wrapped around her neck.  A few seconds later she’s holding a small silver key, hidden in her shirt.  “There.”  She unlocks the door without a second thought, and steps in.  “Come inside.”_

_I look around, wondering if her parents are home, but all the lights are off and everything is quiet.  The blonde flicks a switch, light bulbs responding to the electrical surge and activating._

_“Cool.  Your parents won’t mind?”  Unexpectedly, pain flashes across her face._

_“They’re...”  She takes a small breath.  “D-Dead.”_

_Oh._

_“Sorry.”  I backtrack, but she shakes her head.  “Nothing to do about it.”  Bravely, she reaffixes her smile, but there’s a note of sadness in her voice.  “Come on, let’s go into my room.”_

_I shut the door behind me, hesitating before locking it.  The door itself is an oaken brown, the walls a faded white.  Visible surfaces seem clean.  The furniture is rather Spartan, a small recliner, two tables, and four chairs.  There’s a few pictures of a smiling woman and man holding Lily.  Those must be her parents.  She’s a spitting image of her mother, if that’s who she is.  Her dad is a taller male with light skin and bright blue eyes, his wavy brown hair contrasting his sharp features._

_“Tyler?”  Her voice, coming from her room._

_“Coming!”  I respond, tearing my gaze from the wall to bounce into Lily’s bedroom._

_As I suspected, the furnishings are similarly plain.  Her bed, a drawer, a desk, a chair.  The only distinguishing feature is a large mirror built into the back of the door, polished._

_Lily is staring at a small, though ornate, silver picture frame.  When I drift closer, I realize that it’s another picture of her parents and her._

_“...They’re gone.”  Is all she says, looking up at me from her spot on the bed.  “.”_

_“...How?”  I sit down next to her, hesitating before wrapping an arm around her shoulder._

_“O-Orangewood.”  That one word jolts my memory._

_“A small village, destroyed two years ago by an unknown group of bandits.  There were no survivors.”  My eyes widen in realization.  “You mean you’re-”_

_“The undocumented s-survivor.  Yes.  I...only survived b-because my p-parents didn’t.”  Tears trickle down her cheeks and I draw the girl into a hug.  She reciprocates freely, burying her head into my shoulder.  “Two years ago.  T-Tyler, I was six w-when I watched my p-parents get killed.”_

_“And you blame yourself, don’t you?”  I hold her tighter.  “Don’t.”_

_“H-How can’t I?  M-My parents...they stalled t-the bandits so I-I could escape.”  Her stammering returns full force, and her sobs intensify._

_“Because they gave their lives freely for you.  They were your parents.  They loved you, Lily, and they’re most certainly happy that they could sacrifice themselves for their child.  That’s one of the better ways to go, dying to protect someone you love.”  She pulls away, staring at me._

_“H-Has anyone e-ever told you that you are r-really smart?”  She says, wide-eyed, and I smile.  She’s feeling better now, happy, even, despite the burden she just dropped onto my shoulders._

_It’s one I take willingly, and happily.  She trusts me.  That’s worth the world to me.  She may be hiding the pain, but I know that she is starting to heal, too.  That’s good enough, for now._

_“Not enough.”  I joke back, and a small smile creeps onto her face._

_“I’ll be h-happy to remind you.”  She wipes away her tears, staring at me with affection._

_We talk well into the night.  Before I leave, Lily kisses me on the cheek._

**  
  
**

    I don’t say any of that to the gathered group, though.  Somehow, that memory feels far too private, almost sacred.  It marks the turning point in our relationship though, something deeper than friendship.  

    But we never got to explore that dynamic.  

    ...Because Blake came back, and ruined everything.

__**  
  
**

_“Lily.”  I glance at her empty seat.  “Absent.”  The teacher drones on._

_I’m far more concerned than I let on, though.  Today, I was supposed to take her to the swings, and we were going to eat a small lunch there.  She shouldn’t be absent...Is she sick?_

_I shouldn’t be worrying so much, but my instincts are screaming in my head.  Something’s wrong._

_...It’s not like I really need this lesson on history._

_Without further explanation, I sprint out of the classroom with the eyes of everyone on me.  The teacher lets me go._

__

_It takes me about fifteen minutes to reach Lily’s apartment.  I skip the elevator, taking the stairs three at a time.  She’s only on level three, after all, and waiting for the carriage may take longer than taking the stairs._

_Finding her hallway takes only a few seconds.  I’m being trained as a Tracker, after all, and one of the coolest things about it is that I can find places I’ve already been to, from any starting point.  With a mere thought, I activate the implant in my brain and I can see the paths that take me to Lily’s room.  I pick a green laser, visible only to me, and follow it._

_...I should’ve taken the elevator.  The stairs and elevator come onto Floor 3 at different places, a consideration I haven’t thought of.  No matter.  This should only take a second._

_My heart beats faster when I find the correct hallway and notice that Lily’s door is open.   With silent footsteps, I dash to the open door and peek in._

_It’s far worse than I thought.  There are three men dressed in black cloaks, and they’re busy beating her with their fists.  She’s long stopped crying, if she’s even conscious at this point.  My blood roars through my veins and I lose all rational thought._

     

      “That was the start.”  I say.  The group listens, enraptured.  “It was a pretty tough fight, but I won in the end.  It wasn’t hard to find out that Blake was the one who sent the assassins, with the order to cause as much pain as possible.  She was going to be an...example, for me.  To show me who was ‘boss’, I guess.  When I had everything I needed to know, I threw them outside of the skyscraper window.  Lily was unconscious and nearly comatose at that point.  I used an emergency Healing Crystal and, more or less, saved her life.  She woke up about two hours later.”  

       

__

_“T-Tyler...?”  My closest companion slowly opens her eyes, blinking dazedly.  She’s covered in a blue comforter that I had placed on her to keep her warm.  She’s been asleep for hours, as the bruises faded from her skin with the help of the Healing Crystal._

_“Lily.”  I stare at her.  So close.  So close to losing her.  If I hadn’t come...what would have happened?  Would she have died?_

_...That’s not something I want to think about._

_“What happened...?”  She’s alert now, and I watch as the memories flood through her.  “Oh.”_

_“I took care of it.”  We both know that translates into - “I killed them.”  She purses her lips, obviously wishing to protest, but doesn’t.  Good.  I don’t know if I could handle it._

_“A-Are you okay?”  I killed someone.  Well, I killed three people.  And it was a very deliberate act, too.  It’s not like I accidentally slipped and toss them out.  Once I disarmed them, quite literally, I forced them to tell me everything, using pain as a motivator.  When they lost their use, I dragged their barely-conscious bodies to the window and hurled them out, watching their bodies burst on the ground._

_“I...-”  Am I really going to lie to Lily?_

_I trust you._

_“I don’t know.”  I admit, sighing.  “There’s a piece of me that says I should feel like a terrible human being for killing people, but there’s also a piece of me that seems really happy about it.  So, yeah.  I don’t know what to feel right now.”_

_Weakly, Lily reaches out her hand to me, in a sign of clear invitation.  I take it, lacing our fingers together._

_A sign of trust._

_“...I can’t lose you.”   I admit.  She nods, opening her mouth to say something before thinking better of it.  Sometimes the silence speaks stronger._

_“Please let me move in.”  I request.  It’s pretty clear that there’s nothing I can do to make Blake leave her alone.  He’s simply not that type of person.  He would probably send assassins just to spite me.  He probably did.  With that in mind, Lily needs protection.  She trusts me, and I trust her, and I’m also capable of protecting the two of us.  Her home is no longer safe for her to walk freely._

_“I...”  I’m guessing she wants to say that she can defend herself.  But today clearly proved otherwise.  She’s simply not strong enough yet._

_“...Okay.”  Her meek acceptance surprises me.  I think she doesn’t want to be seen as weak.  Or...useless.  And she isn’t, but..._

_I don’t know if I can say anything to keep her from going down that train of thought without contradicting my own words, so I don’t say anything at all.  We rest in silence._ **  
**


	14. Bloodshed, I

   “I looked away for one second.  And he took her.  It was just another day, I thought.  We went to the swings...and were ambushed."

__

_The electrical bolt comes out of nowhere.  Even so, I manage to react in time, vaulting off of my swing and drawing a sword in a single motion to cleave the attack in two._

_Lily quickly brings her swing to a stop, dragging her feet on the ground.  The delay is costly._

_My Tracker ability already coming up, I whirl around again, to deflect a bolt of fire.  I miscalculate, badly.  It's not a Fire Bolt like I assumed, but a Fire Blast, and blocking it with my thin sword is a mistake._

_The energy attack explodes, sending me flying backwards as searing pain stabs into my mind.  I try to fight the darkness that encroaches upon my vision, and almost succeed._

_I hear Lily scream my name before a second electric attack sends me into unconsciousness._

_****_

_When I wake up, there's a note crumpled in my hand.  Messy handwriting in blue ink covers the front._

_"If you want to see the girl again, go into the Forbidden Cave unarmed.  If you're not here by the time the sun sets, you will not see her again."_

_It must be Blake.  Those magic attacks...there is no way he could have done that.  Where is he finding all of these people to do things for him?_

_His motive is simple.  If I go unarmed, he kills me.  And probably Lily._

_If I don't, I live, but Lily dies._

_It's not good.  As of yet, we have no access to an inventory.  I can't sneak anything in, can I?  I'm sure he'd force me to take off any cloak I could use to hide weapons._

_I could keep a short switchblade in my pocket.  But he could make me empty them..._

_Unarmed, then._

_Wait, I'm really going to do this?_

_I can't lose Lily._

_Why?_

_Because...because..._

_The revelation hits me with the force of a train._

_I love her._

_Is it even possible for an nine-year-old to love someone?  I don't know.  But..._

_Wait, I do know.  I know because I love her.  I love the blue-eyed blonde girl, the one that loves swings and strawberries.  The girl determined to prove her worth, despite so many others trying to convince her otherwise._

_We've only known each other for eight months, yes, but...in that time, I realize, we've held onto each other.  As friends...no.  More than that.  On some spiritual level, I feel connected to her.  She means the world to me._

_And I will fight for her._

_There is twenty minutes left until sunset.  My top speed will take fifteen minutes to reach my destination._

_No time to lose._

_The Forbidden Cave is named that way simply because no one can survive in it long.  The monsters are numerous and of extremely high level.  A single one would be able to kill most of my classmates._

_I do not hesitate for a second before diving inside.  The mobs are designed as wolves and bats.  Claws and teeth.  Torches line the wall, light that should not exist.  I follow, knowing that it is a path for me.  No mobs make their presence known to me, which is good.  Any delay could prove fatal to Lily._

_It doesn't occur to me that they should have no way of knowing the sunset, if the rendezvous point is in the cave.  How are they supposed to determine when the time limit has passed?_

_Had I thought about that, I would have immediately reevaluated my situation, instead of rushing blindly into what was soon to be a pit of death._

_I didn’t, though.  And the price I paid..._

__

_When I step into the final room of the cave, the trap is sprung._

_Twelve tall, hooded players file in behind me, cutting off my exit.  It’s then I start to reconsider my situation, but it’s too late._

_It’s a large stone cavern with only one way out.  Torches, burning dim, sporadically line the wall.  The light’s not much, but it’s enough to see that there are at least fifty masked, cloaked players waiting for me.  And they all look like adults..._

_Mercenaries.  That’s the only explanation.  Paid NPCs...  But...they’re ridiculously expensive.  How much money has gone into this?  This...must have cost thousands of bars of gold...  They’ll do whatever he has commanded them too, though, which is bad news for me.  Fortunately, even the best ones aren’t terribly skilled, but they’re above my level, that’s for sure._

_Lily’s on the other side, hands tied to a pole that has been jammed in the ground.  It makes me wonder just how long this has been prepared..._

_“Run.”  She mouths, her lips moving slowly, as if under strain.  I only shake my head, a sad smile on my face._

_“Never.”  I mouth back.  A tear slides down her face._

_“I didn’t think you’d come.”  A voice rings out, one that I recognize instantly.  Blake..._

_“I didn’t think you were so much of a coward.”  I reply back, wishing I had a sword in my hand.  Or two.  I almost immediately regret my words, remembering who has the power right now._

_“I am not a coward, merely an opportunist.”  He says back, smugly._

_“Spoken like a true rat.”  I almost respond, but self-restraint and the desire to keep Lily out of whatever sadistic punishments that Blake might have cooked up for me.  I know he wants to see me humiliated._

_He walks over to where Lily is, her eyes darting back and forth from me to the approaching figure.  With one hand, he reaches out to stroke her cheek._

_The bastard._

_“You’re sick.”  Lily voices my sentiments, and I immediately cringe.  He isn’t going to take that lightly._

_“It’s all in the opportunity, isn’t it, my dear?”  His fingers slide lower._

_And my restraint snaps._

_Instantly, my vision focuses, picking out details in the low light that even people with perfect eyesight would be hard-pressed to see.  This...isn’t Tracker._

_Battle Trance.  I see._

_With a single thought, I’m already flashing across the room, my hand coming up to strike Blake in the face._

_The hit echoes across the room.  My fist lands with such force that I manage to send the taller male flying backwards a meter.  He hits the ground with a painful-sounding thud._

_“Don’t even start.”  I hiss furiously.  “You pathetic-”  A flash burns bright in my vision as I instinctively throw myself backwards, a lightning bolt sailing past me._

_It barely misses me.  But I wasn’t the target.  The lightning hits Lily, instead.  With a shriek of pain, she chokes out blood before slumping to the ground, held up by her tied wrists._

_I can tell she’s conscious, if barely.  Her quick, painful breaths tell me that much.  I’m too busy being appalled by the fact that Blake would resort to something as cheap as that._

_“That’s your plan, isn’t it...”  I ask, trembling.  “Using her, since you can’t beat me.  You have no honor.  You’re worse than trash.”  My vision flashes red in anger.  “You...do not deserve to live.”  My vision sharpens again, tenfold, to where I can see even the individual fibers of the cloak that the thing in front of me wears.  “You don’t deserve to grace the pits of hell with your filthy presence.”_

_“Shut the hell up and die.”  He says, rising to his feet.  Blake pulls out a sword, weighing it in his hands before charging at me.  “Die.”_

_“You will.”  I say simply, certainty lacing my voice, and it must get to him, for he falters slightly.  “You will.”  As he raises his sword to strike at me, I seem to disappear from his vision._

_I haven’t, of course.  But with the low light, it’s what he sees.  My dark clothes are perfect for camouflage in this cave.  I dash inside of his attack and hit his cheek in a perfect elbow strike, ripping the sword from his grasp as he spits blood and stumbles backwards._

_“K-Kill them!  Both of them!”  I slash Lily’s bonds off with the sword in my hand.  It’s a bit heavier than normal..._

_Immediately, magical attacks fly at me.  Knowing I won’t be able to get out of the way in time, I shove Lily to the ground before dodging the other way._

_“Hide.”  I say, before dashing sideways to attack the first of the cloaked males.  This one wields a thin sword._

_His first strike would have overwhelmed me...if my Battle Trance hadn’t telegraphed his opening movement, allowing me to dance around it before counterattacking, my lightning-quick slash disarming him...quite literally.  A second, quick stab sends him shattering into shards before I dash away from the spot, dodging a second hail of magical attacks._

_Lily’s nowhere to be found.  Good.  Now all I have to do is hold off the dozens of attackers._

_I quickly snag the abandoned blade from the ground, using it to occupy a mercenary while I throw the larger of the blades across the room.  Blake sees it coming and dodges, though I score a large gash on his side._

_The attack leaves a window of opportunity for my enemy, as he swings past my guard and nicks my cheek.  Ignoring the minor injury, and using it to fuel my anger, I stab him in the throat before diving sideways to dodge more energy attacks from the mages across the room._

_A mage nearby is killed in the time it takes for me to cross the room, his staff dropping to the ground as it slips from his fingers.  I snatch it up and whirl, sending it flying across the room to kill another mercenary._

_In a standard fight, they should be besting me, and easily, in the numbers they have.  But right now, fueled by desperation, adrenaline, and having the Battle Trance advantage, something that they do not have, they are being disposed of by quick and efficient strikes._

_The fourth of over fifty attackers is a shield user, and he gives me trouble, parrying my attacks with his shields.  However, he only takes a while longer to kill, as I eventually bait other mages into firing at me when I am in a seemingly vulnerable situation.  Their attacks kill their own member, and I move on._

_And that is how it goes.  Throughout the long fight, I attack one at a time, always keeping the attention of the mercenaries on me and using the sporadic magical barrages to my advantage, encouraging them to kill their own members.  At my best estimate, I fight for well over an hour before the last one falls._

_When I turn around to find Lily, though, it is to my horror that I realize Blake, who I assumed was out of the fight after I threw his own sword at him earlier, has reclaimed the blade and is holding my blonde friend hostage._

_“...What kind of freak are you?”  He asks me, scared._

_“The one that will kill you.”  I snarl, taking a step forward.  In response, he presses his blade closer to Lily’s neck, drawing blood._

_“I wouldn’t come closer if I were you.”  Immediately, I freeze, though my brain runs frantically to find a way out of this._

_To protect Lily._

_“What do you want?”  I ask.  He manages to give me a cocky grin despite his situation._

_“Kill yourself, and I’ll let her go."_

__


	15. Bloodshed, II

 “Kill yourself, and I’ll let her go.”

     

    _At that precise moment, I could almost hear Lily’s voice in my mind.  A moment of clarity like nothing else._

_“I’m sorry, Tyler.”_

_“What are you talking about?  This isn’t your fault.”_

_“I know.  I’m apologizing for what I’m about to do.  I’m so sorry.  I love you.”_

_“What are you- Lily!”_

__

_Blood was everywhere._

_“Lily...!”  A sad smile on her face as she throws her body forward, slashing her own throat open.  Immediately, Blake shoves the dying girl away from him, a revolted look on his face._

_My own horrified scream._

_She manages a smile, even as blood gushes from her throat._

_“Live.”  She mouths, before her eyes flutter closed and her body shatters into shards._

__

_It only took a moment.  But that was all that was needed._

_In that second, I lost the person dearest to me._

_And I snapped._

__**  
  
**

_..._

__**  
  
**

_“This is your fault.”  I state monotonously.  My eyes fall upon the shuddering Blake, who seems horrified at what he has caused.  “Your arrogance...your unwillingness to admit there was someone better than you.”  I take a step forward.  He takes a step back._

_“I’ll admit, though, this is partially my fault.  Maybe if I had seen your game earlier, I could have prevented this.  By killing you, like I should have back then, none of this would have happened.”  Another step forward.  Another step back._

_“Allow me to remedy that mistake.”  I dash forward, sword raised, as he screams._

__

_..._

__**  
  
**

_The sound of dripping blood is innocuous.  You could easily mistake it for the sound of falling rain, if you weren’t there to witness it._

_I leave Blake to die, a sword pinning him to the wall of the cave.  Before I leave, I pull two fallen blades from the ground, weighing them in my hands before nodding._

_There's still one last thing to do._

__

_The torches, to my dismay, have burned out, leaving me with no light.  The sound of conflict would have drawn the attention of the wolves and bats that inhabit the area.  They are far above my level._

_But I have the Battle Trance, and a deadly coldness to my every movement.  The darkness does not hinder me, as my Tracker abilities allow me to see._

_And, in the end, levels are just a number.  A number that increases certain conditioning and abilities, yes, but a number nonetheless._

_The wolves are high-leveled, but I have the benefit of superior skill and human intelligence.  The bats are few, and their major advantage of stealth is negated by my Tracker ability.  Even with this, it takes me two hours to fight my way out, as the monsters have both numbers and constitution on their side._

_Finally escaping, I stare into the horizon, vengeance on my mind._

_Lily...I don't think you would approve of what I'm about to do, but this is important to me._

_Battle Trance finally fading, I sprint down the street, destination in mind._

_Blake's family mansion._

__**  
  
**

_I don't pause to savor the carnage I have wrought upon the building, as the burning wood falls to the ground.  I watch, standing away from the flickering firelight, not making a sound._

_His parents, killed.  I made their deaths quick, anyways.  I turned their stove on and threw a bottle of cooking oil in it, leaving the fire to spread.  Razing the building to the ground.  Sterilization._

_And now we're here.  A great sense of fatigue burns at the back of my mind.  I've grossly over extended the safe time of the Battle Trance, and I suspect that I will pay the price for it with my life._

_No matter.  I've...avenged Lily._

_A sound behind me.  I draw my sword blindingly quick, spinning around._

_A red-haired girl, staring at the burning mess.  At the blade in my hand.  She opens her mouth to say something-_

__

_My blade buries itself into her chest._

__**  
  
**

_No rational thought involved._

__**  
  
**

_Later, I learned that the girl’s name was Rose.  Completely innocent._

__**  
  
**

_At the time, though, I didn't consider any of that.  I retracted my blade without a second thought and walked away, the familiar crystal-glass sound of death ringing out a moment later._

_What I had done wasn't considered until I woke up a week later, lying in Lily's empty bed with no idea of how I had got there._

__

_When I understood, I rationalized the kill as self-defense.  But she had never made an aggressive movement._

__**  
  
**

_Killing without thought.  That night, it was just second nature.  I didn't have to kill any human...with the exception of Blake.  But I did, anyways._

__**  
  
**

_Even now, it comes without second thought, flowing as easily as the first stage of the Battle Trance._

__**  
  
**

_My body was so damaged by my use of the Battle Trance that it was three months before I could go back to school.  My muscles were almost completely shredded, and a Healing Crystal did nothing to help the process along.  All I could do was wait, and wonder._

_Stuck in Lily's apartment, I could never escape my thoughts of what-if.  I could have saved her from the very beginning, by holding her at a distance once I realized the grudge Blake held for me.  By finishing him off.  By losing gracefully._

_I may have blamed Blake for his ego, but my pride, too, contributed to this._

_Two permanent consequences resulted from...the incident.  Firstly, I qualified for the True Battle Trance.  Even now, I can hear the malicious voice in my head that urges me to tap into its power.  But I have never used it, not until..._

_Until they threatened Lindsey.  This sentiment, I do not voice.  But everyone knows what I mean, anyways._

_Secondly, I could not love.  Friendship...didn't exist, not anymore._

_I worked alone, trained my skills constantly, my focus on escaping this world._

_Because, deep down, I believe that Lily is out there somewhere.  And I will find her._

**  
  
**

...

**  
  
**

     I leave after my confession, seeking silence.  I find myself running through the floor dungeon, ripping apart Warrior Skeletons and Sandstone Golems without much care in the world.

     Turning around after dispatching the most recent group of enemies, I turn around to find Lindsey watching me cautiously, a few meters behind me.  When I meet her eyes, she tilts her head to the side and smiles slightly, but doesn't speak.  

   I guess she understands my need for silence.  We stand there quietly for a few moments.  

   Turning around as the second wave of monsters spawn, I sprint in and swing with such force that I shatter the Warrior Skeleton's blade, its head coming off a moment later.

    Lindsey joins me a moment later, still unnaturally silent, and we tear at the monsters without a word.

    Of course, being who we are, we slowly, but surely begin competing to see who can make the most kills.

     I'm not sure who laughs first, but it breaks the silence, nonetheless.

     And I realize that Lindsey, in her own quirky way, is trying to show me that she still wants to be my friend.

    My friend...

    "Thank you."  I whisper, imperceptibly, softly enough that I can barely hear myself.

     And she shouldn't be able to hear me, either, but she nods anyways, a genuine smile on her face.

     By the time I’m ready to face the stares of the others, the heaviness in my heart has been alleviated.  

     And all because of the girl next to me.  

 Lindsey...

                                              ...Just who are you?                            


	16. Cactus's Hospitality

     “A duel?”  I ask, when Lindsey approaches me with the offer.  It’s been a month since the Great Release, thirty-one days, and everyone has been training fiercely.  We’re outside, alone, just outside town.  Everyone else is busy shopping for better gear.

     After all, everyone clearly remembers our near-defeat at the hands of the group that attacked us.  Without my True Battle Trance, we would have lost, though we did put up a great fight.

     But that’s still a loss, and the entire part is determined to get stronger as a result.  The greatest motivators, after all, are failures.  

     “Yes.  I want to see if I am stronger than you, now.  First blood.”  The words are serious, but the grin on her face and the playful twinkle in her eyes counteract that impression.

     “Ehh.  Okay.  Starting now!”  I unsheath my swords, both at once, and slash rapidly at the girl, aiming to cut her head off.

     I aim to kill, because I’m well aware she’s more than strong enough by now to dodge, and I’m not disappointed.  Her retreat is nearly a blur.  Immediately, I activate my Tracker and Battle Trance abilities, knowing I will need the increased perception and skill if I want to win by her terms.

    I’m sure, of course, in a real fight, that I could defeat her - but I’d take plenty of scratches along the way. and that will not do in a First Blood challenge.

    To my surprise, she doesn’t protest my cheap tactic, instead making her offensive.  Her opening strike, as expected, is brutally powerful, a vertical downslash.  The blue blur in my vision indicates an ice-type melee supplement magic ability, activated without any visible incantation.

     I’m already impressed.  That’s not an easy thing to do, yet she did it in the middle of an attack.  Woah.  With the added weight and durability of her blade, combined with all of the strength in her body, I barely manage to block the blow, even with crossed swords.

     ...She’s gotten stronger, that’s for sure.  And - fast!

     For a moment, she presses the attack, and my back foot slides for a bit, but I regain my bearings and push her away, slashing rapidly at her.

    My ambidexterity means that I can move my swords independently of each other, an invaluable ability to have as a dual wielder, and the main reason so few others dual wield.  It’s simply too hard for them to keep up.

    Not so for me.  I can launch attacks very, very quick.

    But Lindsey’s faster, and despite my skill advantage, she manages to turn the tables quickly.  She never blocks directly, weaving around my attacks, or using her blade to deflect the force of my blows so that they fall away from her.  At the same time, she launches her own attacks, stabbing rapidly, with the occasional stab.  The icy coating around her blade lets her swing like a normal sword, without the risks of it bending and snapping due to the force - though it seems that it retains its flexibility, only adding to the unpredictability of her blows.  What a troublesome ability.

     Eventually, I revert to a defensive stance, focusing solely on defense.  It’s dangerous, because without my attacks distracting her, she can focus on attack, which means the attacks come in that much faster.  But with my Battle Trance and Tracker abilities, I am able to predict and block appropriately.  

     Her Battle Trance is up, too, it seems, if the intense look on her face is of any indication.  She doesn’t seem to have mastered her emotions, but that’s fine.  I’m sure she could, if she wanted to.

     Taking a chance, I swing, not at her, but at the weapon she’s holding.  Not expecting the rather unorthodox attack, her rapier goes flying out of her hands.  She curses and leaps back, my follow-up swing just barely missing her cheek.

     “Almost.”  I say, standing my ground to allow her to retrieve her weapon.  I get the feeling that I wouldn’t have been able to hit her even if I had continued my attack, as the silver weapon went from on the ground to in her hands in less than a second.  She takes a relaxed, one-handed stance.  

    “Won’t happen again.”  She promises confidently, and I smile.

    “We’ll see.”  Lindsey comes at me again with renewed energy, pushing me back on the defensive.

    I stare at her lips even as I block.  

    ...We kissed.  Well, she kissed me.  I was too stunned to react.

    Wait, what?  

    Professional.  Right.  

    “You’re going to lose if you don’t pay attention!~”  The brunette says cheerfully, her rapier piercing my cloak.  Luckily, it doesn’t touch my skin or draw blood.

    “Maybe I’m just so good that I don’t need to pay attention.”  I retort, stepping inside one of her stabs and slashing quickly, ripping a horizontal line in the bottom of her skirt.  Her responding yelp is oddly satisfying.

    “Hey!  Jerk!”  She says, before reflecting sunlight into my eye, a familiar tactic that I was nonetheless unprepared for.  Instinctively, I dive sideways and down as Lindsey’s rapier cuts through the air.  I roll and lash out, my blade connecting with hers.

     It’s apparently one of my more desperate blows, if the sound of her feet sliding back against the ground is of any indication.

     Duh.  I have magic, too.

    From my kneeling position, I fire a curved bolt of lightning.  She blocks, unaffected, and slashes at me, managing to knock my left-hand sword to the ground.  Despite this, I grin, unruffled.

    “Finally got a rubber grip?”  I say, grinning, referencing the party fight where she blocked a lightning bolt with her rapier and promptly got electrocuted.  She glares, playfully.

    “Don’t - remind - me!”  She accompanies every word with a fierce stab that I slap to the side with my blade.

    Stepping inside the last stab, I dart forward and fist the collar of her shirt, dragging her to me before headbutting her as hard as I can.

    The brunette stumbles back as I release her, both of us groaning in pain.  To my disappointment, though, she doesn’t bleed, though I use the resulting lapse to snatch my sword back up from the ground and to mumble an incantation that charges my weapons with fire.

    “Let’s see how you deal with this.”  I say, smiling even though my head is throbbing.  In response, Lindsey takes a defensive stance for a second, the ice around her blade intensifying.  

     Then she does something completely unexpected, stomping the ground before frost explodes in a wave from her, freezing the ground around her in a twenty-meter radius and sending snow particles exploding into the air.  There’s so many...

     Woah.  That must have drained her mana resources.

     I find that the fire on my blades has gone out, and I can’t seem to light them back up, either.  Her magic...is overpowering mine.

    “H-How the-”

    “Trade secret.”  She says, flashing me a smile before practically disappearing from my vision.

    Her magic is interfering with my Tracker vision!?

    Instincts save me as I whirl around and block, Lindsey reappearing behind me.  

    She’s gotten faster!

    “I’ve been holding back!”  She says, excitement burning in her crystal-blue eyes as we exchange blows rapidly, though I’m, once again, forced onto defense.  Her blade whistles past my face as I quickly lose ground.  “Let’s see how you deal with me now!”  

    Too fast!

     I’ve been underestimating her.

     Far too much.

     Alright then.  I can do this.

     I won’t resort to the True Battle Trance, of course.

     But I can do this.

     “Raze.”  Crimson-red fire explodes out from me, tanning my skin slightly.

     It’s nothing special...just an extremely powerful fire-type area of effect move.  After all, I’m not half-magic for nothing, right?

     The ice melts as the fire disappears, restoring my vision.  I still have some mana, but by the looks of it, she’s out.  She doesn’t even have enough to keep up her ice aura around her rapier.  I guess she had been banking on that to defeat me.

      “I won’t lie, Linds, you’ve impressed me already.”  I stare at my opponent seriously.  “Your growth has been tremendous.  However...”  I ready my swords in preparation for an attack.  “I’m still better.”  

       “We’ll see!”  Lindsey replies, and I sprint at her, our swords clashing once more.  Six rapid slashes in under four seconds, all of them skillfully parried by the rapier-user.  Truly, she’s grown, and I acknowledge that.  However....

      I take a single step back, fire coating my right-handed sword, before I hurl it at close-range.  She’s forced to jump back, her rapier barely managing to stop it from slashing right through her chest, but the fire nicks her shoulder.

     I’m not done; drawing three knives from a cloak pocket, I throw them at her as she flips backward, pushing off with her hands to gain air.  Her altitude is enough to jump over the knives.

     An electrical bolt follows an invisible arc in the air, and she isn’t quite fast enough to block.  It shoots under her sword and hits her directly in the stomach, knocking her out of the air and causing her to land painfully on the sandy ground, though she doesn’t cry out.

     It doesn’t draw blood, and she’s quick enough to leap backwards, still clutching her rapier, before my swing cuts into her arm.  

     “That would’ve been a conclusive hit if I hadn’t run out of mana.”  That’s the only reason she’s not unconscious or paralyzed right now.  I couldn’t even put a quarter of my power into the lightning attack.

     “Could’ve, should’ve, would’ve, didn’t.”  She jibes, though with a slight breathiness that indicates the damage she’s taken in the fight.  

     “Won’t happen again.”  I say, mimicking her.  She sticks her tongue out at me, preparing to fight again.

     “We’re done...!”  Anna comes into view, the rest of the party trailing behind her, before freezing at our armed and fighting states.  “Uh...”

      Lindsey and I immediately sheath our swords, sending each other a look that promises, Later.  

      “Aha...we were just dueling.”  I explain, Lindsey’s nod confirming my statement.  Everyone immediately relaxes.  

       “Oh.  Okay.  Well, we did want to take our shot at the dungeon again, right?  So, shall we?”  Ten minute walk.  Alright.

      “Yeah, yeah.  Let’s go, then.”  I nod approvingly at Lindsey.  “Seriously, though, you’ve gotten so much better.  Keep it up.”  The brunette blushes under the praise.

    "I will."

    I'm not sure how to feel about Lindsey.  The kiss...

    Maybe I should just ask.  But I'm scared of the answer...

**  
  
**

     "This time, let's not split apart."  Anna decides, and we all agree.  We're stronger now, but, well...better safe than sorry.

     It isn't long before the first wave of mobs spawn, in a pack of over twenty.  It isn't a big deal, though, as Morena and Anna step forward and rapidly fire off explosive energy attacks that flood the corridor in smoke.

    When it all settles, the floor and walls look burnt.  The monsters didn't stand a chance.

    The next wave is settled by a combined attack between myself and Phoenix, a blast of mana sent right through our swords that blasts the skeletons right into pieces.  The wave of energy itself is visible only as a disturbance in the air.

    We run into a trio of players in the dungeon, all male.  The most intimidating one is dressed in black, with a cloak covered in flame patterns.  He wields a staff, a fairly rare weapon amongst players.  Its biggest benefit, though, is the ability to channel magic while also having melee potential...but both are weakened slightly.  It’s still interesting, I guess, and it does have some nasty reach.  A battle mage, I’d assume.  His hair matches the shade of his clothes, though his eyes are a bright red.  Adorning his feet are simple black slippers.  He’s tall, distinctly adult.  

     His companion has distinct hair, the color seeming to match the hue of ice.  His eyes, too, seem like frozen shards.  His attire is...interesting, to say the least, a black robe with white fringes.  I’m almost tempted to call it a kimono.  There is a katana strapped to his back, the hilt seeming like simple steel.  Simple brown sandals cover his feet.  He is nearly as tall as his companion, but, unlike him, looks quite a bit younger.

     The last one doesn’t have any distinctive features...until I meet his eyes.  Those eyes...

     It seems like a storm rages in those blue-green orbs.  

     His presence is not intimidating, if the friendly, relaxed expression is any indication, but I’ve learned from experience that it can easily change quicker than you can blink.  The Battle Trance, after all...

     He has messy brown hair that grows down to his ears, and lightly tanned skin.  He’s dressed in a white T-shirt and black shorts.  He seems somewhat muscular, though not to the extent that Michael is.  

     “Well...hello.”  The brown-haired male says, studying us with a sense of curiousness.  “You’re not going to attack us, are you?”  

     “Not unless you attack us first.  We’re not running around killing people for sport, if that’s what you’re asking.”  Phoenix replies, stepping up.  I don’t mind letting him take the lead here, as he is much more intimidating than I am.  

      Of course, that doesn’t make him stronger...hehehe....

      “Huh.  That’s a relief.  We’re actually looking to clear the second boss sometime today, but we’re pretty confident that we can’t do it alone, so we’re looking for some help.”  I recognize the offer as it is.

      “Sure...assuming you’re capable.  Levels?”  Of course, level doesn’t equate to skill.  From a few practice duels, I’ve ascertained that Morena is at least as strong as Anna...and that’s before Inferno Magic.  And she’s nine levels under.

      “We’re all upper thirties.  I think we’ll be fine.  Yourself?”  The flame-cloaked man steps forward.  

      “Hm, not bad at all.  More than enough, actually.  Our lowest level is thirty four, and we were the party that cleared Floor 1.  We’ll be fine, too.”  All three of the men’s eyes widen in shock.

      “People are wondering who did that, actually.  Impressive, considering the thing took out a full party of forty-eight.”  Well...we had Morena’s Inferno magic, and we were overleveled, and we barely made it out of that alive.

      Considering the rune pillars in the arena,  I can easily see why full groups have been wiped out.  Getting trapped in those pillars probably equaled death, and almost no one can read runes.  It’s simply too hard and too time consuming.  Heck, even I can’t read runes.  Never bothered.  Probably should.

     Yeah.  Now that I think about it, a lot of luck was involved in that.  Hell, I took Morena, who only had a few hours of magical training, and who was ridiculously underleveled, into a boss fight.  What was I thinking?

      I really should’ve thought that through.  Though leaving Morena alone outside while we went into the boss room would’ve been rather unfair.  Ugh.  Luck.  It was luck.

      We’re definitely prepared for this boss fight, though.  We’re extremely overleveled, for one.  Every single person in our party, including Morena, is now able to use the Battle Trance...though she says it interferes with her elemental fusion.  Go figure.

     Our gear is, more or less, the best we can get - and we all have replacements, and replacements for our replacements.  We’re battle-ready.  

    This is as prepared as we can get.

     “Sure, we’ll help you.  We’ll split the loot per person.  Sound fair?”  The brunette male nods.  Guess he’s the spokesman, of sorts, for the trio.  Now that I come to think of it, the man with the icy hair has not made a sound since the beginning of our impromptu meeting.  In fact, right after I finished eyeing him cautiously, he’s been leaning against the wall...

     ...asleep...

     “...Er...”  Lindsey asks, apparently having noticed him.  “Is he...okay?”  The fire-cloaked male glances at him.

     “Oi.  Sylas.  Really?  Damnit.”  He pokes at the sleeping male with his staff.  

      Poke.  Poke.

      Lindsey walks over to him, dangerously close, staring at him curiously.

      “Hellooooooo.  Anyone home?”  She reaches up a hand, about to poke him between the eyes.

      “I’d invite you into my home anytime, cutie.”  He cracks open a tired eye as Lindsey steps back quickly.  “Huh.  I was just saying that to screw around, but you actually are kind of cute.”

      ...

      “Um.”  Lindsey replies eloquently.  

      “Kay.”  Anna interrupts brusquely, after glancing at me.  “Boss.  Right.”  

      ...

      “...Tyler?”  Morena asks curiously, noticing the vaguely vacant stare on my face.

      ...

      Did...he just hit on Lindsey?

      ...What?

     Oh, why do I care?  She can do whatever she wants.  

     “Yeah.  Fine.  Let’s go.”  I whirl around, cloak billowing out behind me, and march in a random direction.

     “We’re going the other way.”  Morena offers, timidly.

     ...

     I turn around and trudge the other way without a word.

 

 

     By the time Anna determines how to get to the boss room (we already figured out the math part of the puzzle corridors, but it turns out we need to get to the hundredth corridor) Sylas has hit on Lindsey a grand total of twelve times.

     Lindsey pointedly ignores him a grand total of twelve times.

     I cheer internally.  Then blink and shake my head.

     Raffy tries to ask Morena on a date three separate times while Tony watches helplessly.  Morena has no idea what he’s talking about.  It’s kind of adorable, actually, watching him flounder around while Morena tries to figure out what he’s trying to tell her.

     I almost take pity on him, but it’s funnier to watch.

     Phoenix and Anna gawk, not able to believe Raffy actually had the guts to ask her out...and then reverting to a sort of amused expression when they realize Morena’s clueless.

     Michael, the fire-based mage, and Andrew, who I’m assuming has some sort of weapon he’s not showing, chatter about weapons.

     Krona is as silent and indifferent as usual.

     I merge the party through Andrew, who appears to be the leader.

     It’s just a temporary truce, though.  We’ll be splitting paths later on.  Still, it’s nice to meet their acquaintance.  It’s clear that they are all very, very strong.

     How strong, I can’t wait to see in the boss fight.

     Eleven people now.  Hopefully, this is enough.

     I have a bad feeling about this, though...


	17. Blood Arms - Floor 2 Boss Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As it turned out, I introduced something here, even if just for a fleeting second, that I had not covered yet.
> 
> It would have been in Blanks Between Lines, C3. I mixed them up.
> 
> Oops.
> 
> Anyways, > Ice Armor

 The desert tomb doors creak open the second Anna rests her hand on it.  We shuffle in sullenly, weapons raised and on guard.  Sylas tries to hit on Lindsey again.  The brunette slaps him across the head with the hilt of her rapier.  He doesn’t seem to mind.

     I’m not sure if he has a death wish.

     But the possibility is only growing more likely.

     The boss, this time, is not humanoid at all.  It’s a giant snake, covered in golden armored scales.  It must be dozens of meters long.  Its eyes glow red.  Bad news for us.  Unless...

     “Fire’s probably a weakness!  Burn the scales!”  Anna shouts out.

     “Lightning, too!  Gold conducts lightning!”  As I very well know.  After all, I’m holding one such blade in my hand.  

     Red and yellow beams are fired from Michael’s staff and Andrew’s fist, respectively.  Fire and lightning, as I suspected.  Halfway there, they merge into one destructive beam and explode with tremendous force against the Desert King boss, completely shattering one of the golden armor scales.

      Red snake skin is exposed, though the attack itself does no damage.  No matter, we’ve exposed a weak point.  

     Suddenly, though perhaps not unexpectedly, a faint purple haze falls over us, and I immediately feel myself grow significantly weaker.

     “A-Anti magic...”  Anna hisses.  “U-Ugh...”   Such a field would hit her especially hard.  Her magic affinity is ridiculously strong.  I quickly take up a defensive position in front of the girl as she collapses to her knees, coughing.  This is a ridiculously powerful field.

     A blue explosion and Lindsey is sent flying backwards, into the wall a few meters behind us.  Her left arm is smoking, ice particles falling on the ground where she lies.  I see, she tried to force magic out anyways.  A terrible idea.  The field turns your magic against you, after all.  

    “Don’t even think about using magic.”  Raffy gasps, before stumbling towards Lindsey to make sure she’s alright.  She’s conscious, but injured.  That’s right, Raffy’s partially magic-based, too.  He’d be affected by it, but not nearly as badly as, say, Anna.

    Michael winces, but holds his ground, the staff in his hand spinning as he twirls it anxiously.  Krona seems fine, though I notice the slight tightening of his mouth as the haze brushes over him.

     To my surprise, Morena is unaffected, as is Sylas and Andrew.  Phoenix and Tony are both fine, though they can surely feel the haze, but Morena, who should have been hurt worse than Anna...

     “Phoenix.”  Morena whispers.

     “Glacial.”  Sylas says, an unexpected hardness to his voice.

     “Tempest.”  Andrew shouts, his voice resonating in the air.

     “You will not stop us.”  Morena says, as fire consumes her dress once more, wrapping itself around the white cloth to create familiar patterns.

     Beside her, Andrew and Sylas undergo similar transformations.  Sylas’ skin pales dramatically, snow falling in a small radius around him.  Ice coats his entire skin, moving with him like a set of armor.

     Andrew has the least visible change, but it seems the most powerful.  Electricity ripples across his skin, tiny bolts arcing across his flesh.  I can actually feel the powerful hum of energy, even at this small distance.

    They’re not affected by the field?  How?  They’re all using magic right now!  More importantly...Sylas and Andrew are the Glacial and Tempest magicians?

     Fire, Ice, Electricity.  Red, blue, yellow.  All three raise their hands and fire their respective elemental beams.  When they converge, a flash of light explodes through the room, blinding everyone.

      When the white dies down, the purple haze is gone, though the boss is unaffected.  But...the anti-magic field...

      They shut it down.  ...How?

      How did Morena, of all people, know how to do that?  I didn’t even know that was possible!

       Apparently it is.  Though all three collapse immediately after, their transformations fading away.  They didn’t shut it down, they overloaded the field.  

       And that must have taken a ridiculous amount of energy.

       “Morena, you okay?”  I ask, bending down.  

       “Y-Yeah.  I can still fight.  Just...give me a moment.”  She stands up, shaking, to her feet.  “My mana is fine.  Just...physically exhausted.”  Was life energy consumed?  That thought is alarming.

      “It might be better if you sit out...”  I tell her, concerned, but she shakes her head.

      “N-No...I’ll be fine.”  I’m not convinced, but I’ll let her do as she wants.  I will pay her a little extra attention, though.

      “The anti-magic field is down, but not for too long.  We need to hurry up and attack the weak spots, but the scales...they grew back.”  Andrew says, on his feet, but looking exhausted.

      If it’s as I suspect...this isn’t good.

      Unfortunately, barely anyone is in fighting condition.  Myself...Phoenix, Tony, Krona, Michael.  Everyone else is still in various stages of recovery.  And I barely count.  The haze hit me pretty badly, too, though Michael more so.

     Phoenix glances once at me before nodding at Tony, and they both charge the giant snake.  It lashes out with its head in a devastating blow, but Tony meets it with a powerful, lightning-charged shield bash that rattles it, giving Phoenix the time to slash deeply with a fire-covered strike.

     The sound of fighting helps me shake off my exhaustion, and I quickly sprint in to join the fight.  Michael follows me soon after, his staff burning with fire.

     I immediately launch one of my strongest elemental attacks, a fire-based stab aimed at the place Phoenix weakened with his sword.  It has enough piercing force to shatter the scale it’s aimed at and the scale on the opposite side of the attack.  

     With two weak points, it’s easier for people to attack without interfering with each other, and soon Lindsey and Raffy join the fight, Tony and Raffy drawing all of the Desert King’s bite attacks while Phoenix parries the writhing tail with his giant longsword.

     Finally, Anna, Morena, Sylas, and Andrew are recovered as much as they’ll be able to, and they leap in, albeit a bit cautiously.  A combined magical fire/lightning blast from the quartet is enough to destroy the first of the boss’ five health bars.

      Everyone immediately jumps back, as the giant snake swells.  The golden scales regenerate, the armor covering our hard work.

      The anti-magic field returns, blasting out in a wave from the Desert King’s mouth.  Before succumbing to the crippling pain, though, Anna manages to fire off a devastating black lightning bolt that melts two of the armored scales on the leviathan's midsection.

      But this time, the giant isn’t waiting for us to recover, and it strikes immediately after, going for Anna.  I barely muster the strength to block.  My punishment for trying to stop such a powerful force results in me being thrown into Anna, and then backwards into the wall, my health falling.  The magician is safe, though a bit battered...and stuck underneath me.  But the snake is already moving on, being distracted by Krona, Phoenix, and Tony.

      The trio transform and fire their beams again, destroying the haze.  But they’re far more exhausted this time around, dropping to the ground, gasping and clearly tired.  Anna gets to her knees and stumbles towards Morena, feeding her both a health crystal and mana potion.  

      Neither have any effect.

      I was right...breaking the field takes their life energy.  And if they’re already this tired...

     If they keep this up, they will die.  

      ...There must be another way...

     

     Blood splatters against the wall as Lindsey is thrown back for the tenth time, the brunette choking out blood as she slams against the hard sandstone next to me.  She just took a nasty hit for Anna, but almost got killed in the process.

     “H-Here.”  I reach out with unsteady fingers into a pouch on my waist, drawing out a red healing crystal.  I’m not doing so hot either.  Healing Crystals, after all, aren’t nearly as good as their potion counterparts...and I only have one more of those.  I’m trying to save it for a desperate moment...though I’m definitely getting more and more tempted to use one.

     Blood’s soaking through my cloak, dripping onto the sand behind me, even as the wounds leaking them close.  Between trying to protect the vulnerable magicians every time we take down a bar and my own injuries from fighting, I’ve already taken some nasty hits, and blocked two fatal ones at the cost of the swords in my hand.

     This time, though, I’m prepared for that occurrence, pulling two more from my inventory.  

     “Stay back, and heal a little.”  She nods, too tired to fight me on it.  

     We...may have to retreat.  Overprepared, yes, but this boss has a ridiculously, absurdly powerful anti-magic field that essentially shuts down half our party and weakens half of the remainder.  Three health bars down, working on the fourth, but...

     It’s only due to Anna’s help that the trio of specialist mages aren’t comatose right about now, but she sacrificed quite a bit of her own life energy to do so, assisting them in firing the third anti-anti-magic beam.  She’s barely conscious as is...and the trio aren’t much better off.

    With them essentially out of the game, it’s up to us to figure out how to defeat this boss, and, secondarily, break its anti-magic fields.  

    They only hurt because they suppress our mana, which is a pretty big chunk of our energy.  With that gone, full magicians like Anna, and the magical trio, practically don’t have anything left to them.  Physical energy, fitness - they’re limited when it comes to that.  The sudden, jarring block of the majority of their energy is enough to seriously weaken them.

     As for partial-types like myself, Michael, Krona, Raffy, and to a lesser extent Lindsey, it’s not as bad, because we’re also very physically fit and thus have more physical energy.  So when we lose access to our mana, it’s bad, but not enough to stop us or do much of anything more than slow us down.

     Phoenix, Tony, Krona, and Lindsey only use mana to supplement their fighting styles, and don’t heavily reply on it at all.  Thus they are not affected by it much at all and only lose that aspect of their fighting.

     I do note that Andrew is doing significantly better than his counterparts.  His fighting style, to my surprise, is a pure brawl style...and he’s extremely good at it.  But the mana drain still affects him nastily, because of the fact that he uses his electric-style energy to accelerate his movements, and strengthen them.  Losing that dramatically weakens his style, but he still has physical energy to rely on.

    It doesn’t do him any good, of course, but he’s not comatose.

    As I thought, all three of the specialist magicians relied on life energy to keep going.  Though...a better word might be soul energy.  Either way, it drains their actual life force...

    This is able to overload the anti-magic field, because it’s not magic, but...well, there are obviously consequences for rapidly condensing life energy into an elemental beam.  

     I had briefly considered using physical energy to overload the field...but that, as I found out rapidly, was futile.  You can’t...hit a purple haze that fills the entire room.  I’ve tried not breathing it in, but it affects you just by touching you.  My self-invented ice armor melted on contact with it...

     I could try creating a massive blast of energy of some sort...but, of course, everything I could do is mana-based, and, well, that’s been completely ineffective.

     The effects of the field wear off the second the purple haze loses contact with you.  That would be good, but you can’t exactly, well, do anything.  

     The fourth bar of health shatters.  Last one.  But that crippling anti-magic field comes back, expelled by the Desert King, creeping ever closer...

     I send my strongest long-range fire attack, an overpowered fire arrow fired at ridiculous speeds, at the same time Michael fires off another red beam.

     And both attacks are absorbed by the purple haze, at the same time it rushes forward to engulf us, effectively leaving us powerless...

      This time, when the haze slams into me with the force of a train, I barely maintain consciousness...

 

      I’m exhausted.  My physical energy is so low...

      It’s a good thing my mana wasn’t doing too well, either, after all the high-power fire spells I have been using.  I think I have enough for one good shot...

      Though that doesn’t do me any good right now.  If I were to try and use mana right now, I’d probably kill myself.

      Anna, Morena, Sylas, and Michael are all unconscious.  Seems like the battlemage succumbed to a combination of the anti-magic fatigue and his own injuries.  Andrew’s barely awake, but for all intents and purposes he may as well be dead.

      Lindsey, Tony, Phoenix, and Krona are still ready to fight, but all four are battered from doing the majority of the fighting.  

      Raffy looks as tired as I am.  

      And, this time, we didn’t manage to break a golden scale.  That alone is massive cause for concern - with the people shattering the anti-magic field out of the fight, we must do the rest of the battle without magic...

      ...And the golden scales, which require intense fire or electricity to melt, virtually require mana to destroy...

      It’s not looking good.  

      If it’s a consolation, though, the boss seems to have less HP every bar that breaks.  In fact, the third bar only required about twelve hits to break...which is startling low, considering.  

      So a few good hits should be enough to kill the thing...but, of course, getting that hit is nigh impossible.

      “The eyes!”  They’re glowing bright red.  My Tracker vision indicates a powerful fire attack of some sort is incoming.  

      I sheath both of my steel swords and withdraw an enchanted golden one from my inventory, holding it defensively.  I hadn’t been using it earlier, because it’s not as durable as steel, and only useful for channeling fire energy.  But the boss had no previous indications of relying on any type of energy attack, and since I had been relying on my steel swords to block damage, well...

     I study it, waiting for it to attack.  It seems undecided on a target, though that could very well change soon...

    And it does, though not in the manner I expect.  As it swivels its head back and forth, simultaneously knocking away Phoenix with a tailswipe, Lindsey jumps onto the body of the golden snake before flipping over its head as it turns to track her.

    Upside down, she launches two strikes, aiming at the eyes, but it tilts its head just slightly and both miss, glancing off the golden scales ineffectually.

    The red eyes glow in preparation to launch its fire attack in the form of what I presume will be a laser.

    “Try this out.”  Her arm pulled back, she reaches forward for another stab...but she’s already out of range, her momentum carrying her away.

     But it’s not a stab.  She continues through the motion but lets her hilt go, and the blade continues to fly straight into the left eye of the Desert King.  

     A...perfect hit.  It’s a hit!

     Though neither of us anticipate the tail of the giant reptile to swing up and smash her right out of the air, much like how a scorpion would strike.  With a pained cry, the brunette’s sent flying into the wall, only a few meters from me.

     “Linds-!”  I’m interrupted by the boss’s roar of anger as it turns to face her, its one remaining eye still glowing violent crimson.  It’s still going to attack!

      I sprint in front of her and hold my blade in a defensive stance as, with a loud screech, a laser beam is emitted from the Desert King’s right eye, the bolt hitting the center of my golden blade and promptly being absorbed.  What it doesn’t absorb is the rapid momentum of the attack, causing me to get thrown back.  I instinctively spin around, midair, and cross my arms in front of me just before I slam into the wall.

      I barely avoid snapping my neck, or dashing my head against the hard sandstone surface.  But I can feel the bones in my left arm fracture painfully, and it’s enough to force me to cry out in pain.  

      I reach down with my one remaining hand and pull a Healing Crystal from the pouch on my waist, swallowing it without hesitation.  Immediately, I can feel my bones slowly start knitting together, but, far more importantly, the pain recedes.

     I had wondered if that would work.  After all, crystals and potions both rely on magic.  But it doesn’t seem like they are affected.  

     Looking up, I watch as the massive snake rises up, eyes still trained on Lindsey.  It’s going to go in for a bite.

     ...No...

     But...I can’t do anything.  What could I do?  I can’t...I don’t have the strength to stop it.

_Then take my power._

      ...

      To save my friends, to save Lindsey, it seems that I will need to tap into this power once more.

       ...I can only hope that I don’t kill them by doing so.  

 

       Darkness.

       It’s everywhere.

      Oh, that’s right.  I took Lindsey’s place, holding the enchanted golden sword.  I couldn’t possibly parry in time, couldn’t move Lindsey away.

      So I didn’t.  I just took a single step forward and let the darkness engulf me as it leapt forward, mouth open.

       

        Milliseconds to live.

        Two actions to stop death for one more second.

 

         

        First, inside the mouth of the snake, I stab the golden blade straight up, piercing deeply into the roof of the reptile’s mouth.  

 

 

        Secondly, a single incantation, a single burst of mana.

 

 

        “Blood Inferno.”

       

      The light shines into my eyes as the falling sensation reaches me.

      The heat as flames scorched my skin seems to have taken me out of my True Battle Trance.  Or perhaps it was resignation to death.  Neither felt right.  

      _You’re still so weak._

       Perhaps.  But if I can save my friends, then...I’m strong enough.  Even if I can’t save myself...


	18. Departure - Floor 3 Start

      _But if I can save my friends, then...I’m strong enough.  Even if I can’t save myself..._

    It’s a good thing, then, that my friends are strong enough to save me.  Lindsey catches me, gently lowering me to the ground as a glass potion is touched to my lips.  I swallow the liquid unthinkingly, my eyes only focused on the girl in front of me.

    Her lips are pressed tight, eyes filled with worry as they alternate between my face and the health bar above it.  Blood runs down her face, starting from somewhere in her scalp and trailing down, going between her eyes and down the side of her small nose, where it continues to curve down to brush the tip of her mouth and drip off her chin.

     She doesn’t seem to notice, or care.  Her blood’s dripping on my chest, and probably staining my cloak red.  Ah, well.  It’s already torn to rags from so many hits, and soaked in my blood.  It’s completely ruined by now, anyways.

      As if recognizing this, she gently unclasps the button around my neck before sliding it off my front.

     “W-What...are you...d-doing?”  It actually hurts to speak now.  I guess I must have taken some pretty bad injuries.  

     “I...um...urk.”  Watching her freeze as she realizes what it is she’s doing is probably one of the top ten moments of my life.

     “Oh, screw it.”  She whispers softly before swiftly leaning down to press her lips to my cheek.  

     “...!”  

     “You’re an idiot, you know that?”  Lindsey gently pulls my upper body up and wraps me in a hug, her arms tight around me.  

     “...”

     “I...thought you were dead.  I actually thought...”  She breaks off and I realize that she’s crying, her tears soaking into my black shirt.  I...

      I’ve never seen Lindsey cry before.  

      And it’s something I never want to see again.

      ...Where did THAT come from?

      Ugh.  I really need to get myself in check.  This is pathetic.  I’m better than this.  I shouldn’t be...worried.  Or, hell, determined, right now, to make sure that she’s happy.  But...

      I am.  There’s no denying it.  Why?  Why does it matter?  Why does Lindsey matter?  Because she’s my friend...?

      Then why don’t I feel this way towards Anna, or Morena, or anyone else?  I want them to be happy, and safe, of course.  But I don’t feel dedicated to make sure that they’re never anything else...

      I can’t keep thinking about this.  It will only serve to distract me.  There are bigger priorities right now, like living to see another day.

      Hm.  I think I’m stabilized, enough to walk, at any rate.  Lindsey sniffles one more time before easing off of me, her eyes bloodshot, but also crystal clear.  

_Mesmerizing..._

      I’m almost tempted to kiss her, but I shake my head once to clear my mind before struggling up.  The almost-serene expression on the brunette’s face rapidly shifts to one of alarm.  

      “Tyler, I don’t think-”  Everything hurts.  I guess that essentially lighting myself on fire wasn’t really a smart thing to do.

       Blood Inferno is one of my little inventions.  I’ve always regarded magic with a little bit of excitement.  Seriously, if you think about it...it’s like living energy.  Not quite sentient...but definitely alive.  That’s my theory, anyways.

       But I’m certainly capable of manipulating mana, particularly fire mana, and thus I can make my own spells.  And pass them on if I wish, but this is one of the riskier ones that I ought to keep for myself.

       Blood Inferno literally lights my body on fire using my own blood as both a medium for conducting heat and as a layer to protect my skin.  Of course, for fairly obvious reasons, you can only use it when you’re soaked in blood, like I was from my many, many, many injuries.  Testing it the first few times, I actually managed to burn my clothes off, but I’ve managed to fix that since then, channeling the fire away rather than on me.  This is how I changed what was essentially a suicide tactic to a defensive - or offensive aura.

      The cost is a significant chunk of my health and mana, but it’s the most powerful point-blank fire spell I have.  And it’s usable by only me.

      Well, until Anna figures it out.

      Oh, and it burns the blood off.  That’s always good.

      “Is everyone alright?”  I ask the girl next to me.  She nods.

      “Yeah, no one had any serious injuries...but mostly everyone else is fast asleep.”  Not surprising, but very dangerous.  I mean, it’s a freaking boss room.  People like to come to boss rooms.

       ...Bad people...

       “Yeah, we need to get everyone moving.”  I say, glancing around.  Of the eleven of us, only myself, Lindsey, and Phoenix are awake.  Everyone else, well...

       “Let me.”  Lindsey grins as I start towards the nearest person, ice curling around her fingers.  “I have the perfect thing to wake them up...”  

**  
  
**

       It’s not even really a decision as to who the unlucky victim will be.

      

      Anna wakes up with a shriek as Lindsey drops ice cubes into the front of her dress, waking everyone up along with it.

      With a hurried explanation to the still-waking members of our party, we set off to the newly-creating stone staircase in the center of the room, spiraling upwards into a hazy magic aura...

       

     And we’re out, all eleven of us, alive and well, into an icy wonderland.  Snow falls in a picture-perfect background of evergreens and fir trees.  It’s much like that winter area of the first floor, only on a much wider scale.  

      Anna’s still glaring daggers at Lindsey, who’s hiding behind me.        

      It’s kind of cute, and reminds me of Lily.

     Though I don’t follow that train of thought any further.  

     “I can’t believe we’ve made it all the way here.”  Morena says, mixing disbelief and awe.  I make a face at the younger girl.

     “You say that like you expected us all to die.”  I say teasingly, and she backtracks hastily.  

     “N-No, that’s not what I meant...”  Her expression resembles a kicked puppy, and I can’t help but laugh, receiving a mock glare in return.

     After a quick farewell, Andrew, Sylas, and Michael exit our party and rush off into the icy wonderland.  They’ll be fine.

     Now, the rest of my party...

     “Tyler.”  Krona walks up to me, getting my attention.  I stare at the normally-silent girl in confusion.  “I’m afraid we’re going to need to part.”

     “Huh?”  It takes a moment for her words to sink in.  “Oh.  Why?”  I say it fairly nonchalantly, but inside I’m a bit shaken up by the words.

     “I...need to get stronger.  A lot stronger.”  Krona sighs.  “I partied up with Morena to protect her, but...I think you’re probably better for that job than I.”  She gives me a smile that’s more wistful than bitter, like I would expect.  “I’m going to go on a training trip...and see if I can’t find a few friends that I left behind in my rush.”   

     It’s a perfectly good reason.  I’d just...rather not see any of my party leave.  I’ve grown rather attached to them, even if we don’t necessarily talk all too much.  Just the ability to trust them has been enough.  

     “I see.  Will you return, sometime?”  There’s a faintly resigned look in her eyes.

     “Yes.  Eventually.”  She hesitates before sticking out her hand to me.  “See you.  And protect Morena for me.”  

     I accept her handshake.  Her skin is actually rather rough for a female.  “I will.  See you.”  

     She nods once at Morena, who mouths “Bye-bye.” back.  I guess that they had discussed this earlier.  Krona turns and walks back down the staircase, knives in hand.

     Morena looks a bit distressed.  Obligingly, I wrap my arm around her and pull her close.

     “It’s okay.”  I’m not much for this comforting thing.  But she seems to take it in stride, anyways, sniffling.  

     I note that she didn’t say goodbye to anyone else.  She really was quiet.  

     Phoenix, Tony, and Raffy approach me next, as one group.  I immediately let go of Morena, anticipating the events ahead.  

     “You’re going, too?”  I ask, already knowing the answer, but dreading it all the same.

     “Yeah.  We want to go back and explore a little, train to work as a group more...”  Phoenix rubs his shoulder.  “That last boss showed us a lot of weaknesses in our fighting styles, and we’re going to be working on that.  But, mostly for the exploring, y’know?”  

      Yeah, I know.  I would stop, too, if only to properly admire everything around me, but I’m more interested in defeating the final boss.  There must be something past that, after all...And I can’t wait to see what.

      “That’s fair.  You planning on returning?”  Phoenix nods.  

      “Wouldn’t have it any other way.  I plan on dueling you when I return, to see where we match up.”  I smile.  Ultra-skilled heavy swordsman versus equally-skilled dual-wielder?

      “Looking forward to it.”  He extends his fist in a sort of fistbump and I take it.  

      Tony steps forward next, looking at me.  

       “...See you.”  His voice is serious, a far cry from the normally childish sound, and I realize that his entire immaturity thing was simply a facade...or maybe this is a mask, and he’s secretly a child beneath it.  Heh.  That’s something to think about.

      “See you.”  He steps back, and Raffy steps forward, his eyes alternating between mine and Morena’s.  Realizing what’s about to happen, I nod at him once before taking a few steps back, pushing Morena in front of me.  

       “W-Wha-”  I cut off the bemused girl with a smirk.

       “I think you have something you need to hear.”  I quickly retreat, but not so far as to be out of hearing distance.  Anna and Lindsey slide up next to me, having apparently gotten over their temporary and playful animosity.  

      “Is he really going to-”  Anna begins, to get cut off by a “Shhhhh!” from Lindsey.

      “Er...hi, Morena.”  Raffy starts, a bit awkwardly.  We sneakily shift over to where we can see both of their faces.

      “Hey, Raffy.  What’s going on?”  The brunette in question looks around, bemused.  

      “Well, er...I just wanted to tell you that you’re really cool, and, um...”  He fidgets.  “Well, when we meet again, do you want to...you know, er...Go on a picnic or something?  Just the two of us?”  Enlightenment dawns upon Morena’s face.  

      “I...um...”  Morena hesitates.  I guess she finally picked up on what the nervous shield-user is trying to tell her.  “Okay.”

      “W-Wait, really?”  Raffy says.  

      “Sure.”  Morena smiles at him, before quickly leaning over and chastely pecking him on the cheek.  “Sure.”  

      Anna clasps her hands over her mouth to stifle what I’m sure is an extremely fan-girlish shriek.  

       I’m interested to see how this plays out.  It seems Morena has given up her crush on me and is willing to explore this tentative world alongside another.  I’m not particularly disappointed at that, more...well, to say the least, happy.  The little girl who could barely hold up a sword has come a long way.

      Soon the trio of males depart, having exchanged final goodbyes with everyone.  

      “Er...Tyler.  I’m going to be going too.”  Anna says.  “Though, if my calculations are right, not for terribly long.  Under two weeks, I hope, then I’m definitely coming back.”

      My first companion in this world.  This one hurts a little more than the other departures, even though she has preemptively given me her vow to return.

     “Why?”  I ask.  There’s a slightly resigned, if not sad, look on Lindsey’s face.  She’s taking this far better than I.

    “There’s a lot of information I need to follow up on, from way back then.”  Her serious expression can only mean one thing.

     The Book.  It’s been a while since that has come up in conversation, mostly because it’s...a secret, really.  

     “Several quests and dungeons that only I can deal with.  Magic puzzles, dimensional equations, energy calculations...a fully fledged secret campaign-type quest.”  Woah.  That was in The Book?  Incredible.

      “It shouldn’t take long.  It’ll just be hard.  Solo quest, or I’d take you along for sure.”  I give her a smile at that.

       “No need to explain yourself, I understand perfectly.”  I’d, well, not kill, but fight for one of those kinds of quests.  They always, always, always have super-valuable loot and stuff.  “Don’t do something stupid like die, though.”

     The magician nods.  “I’m too good to die to something like this.  Don’t worry.”  It’s just a front to keep me calm, I know, but it still works.  Arrogance is not a trait she normally displays...though, given her proficiency, arrogance may be the wrong term.  Justified confidence, maybe.  

    “Good.  Don’t slip up.  No matter what.  We’re going to fight later on, to see who’s stronger.  Okay?”  She nods determinedly before stepping close to me and pulling me into a hug.  

     “You better not screw up either, moron.”  Anna lets go, smiling fondly.  “See you soon.”  She pulls out her wand, concentrating intensely, before she disappears in a burst of fire.

     “...What.”  

    She teleported.

    “I need to pull that secret off of her sometime.”  I say, as a way to distract myself from her departure.  It’s partially successful.  

     There’s one more departure.

    “I...I’m going, too.”  Lindsey finally says after a long pause of awkward silence, staring down at her feet.  

   That hurts far more than I thought it would.  Even though, given all this time, I expected it.  At first, I encouraged it, back when she was just a person.  But now...

    What is Lindsey to me now?  The brunette in question looks up at me, her eyes shining.  Lindsey...  

_I really like you._

    “Why?”  I ask, doing everything I can to keep the emotion out of my voice.  Aside from the slightest quiver, I mostly succeed.  Though I get the feeling...that Lindsey will be able to interpret that, and know what I mean.

    I think she does, if the mistiness of her eyes is of any indication.

    “I...I want to go back.  I want to find my past.”  

    Lily.  Lindsey.  

    I understand her request.  It reminds me of Morena, who has had her past forcefully taken from her.

    And I understand why she wants to go.

    “I could-”   _I could go._

    But she cuts me off with a fierce, “No!”  Her expression softens.  “No.  This...this is something I have to do alone.”

    I understand that too.  It doesn’t make me any less happy about it.

    I have to let go.  I have to discard this sudden possessive feeling.  I know.

    I know, but I don’t want to.  

    Bittersweet.

    “Alright, Lindsey.”  She looks surprised at my use of her full name.  I step forward once and wrap her in a tight hug.  Judging from her quiet gasp, I have managed to force the air from her lungs.

    “Stay safe...and come back, okay?”  I whisper.

    “I...I will.”  Her affirmation brings a smile to my face.  I don’t let go right away though, choosing to rest my head on her shoulder and take a deep breath, absorbing everything there is to take in.

     She smells faintly of vanilla, and a little of blood, though, given our recent fight, that’s to be expected.  She doesn’t feel outwardly muscular, rather soft, actually.  It’s surprising.

     But these observations force me to view Lindsey as a girl.  Not that I haven’t been already, but...now, well, it’s different.  

_I really like you._

     I squeeze her one more time before letting go.  It feels permanent.  I pray that’s not the case.

     “See you.”  I tell her, trying not to cry.  To my surprise, she giggles slightly.

     “That you do.”  She jokes, and I roll my eyes, though my smile expresses my true emotion.

      That may have been the wisest thing she has ever said.  Because I do.  I do see her now.  I see her for who she is, now.

      I almost kiss her.  We’re standing close enough.  Almost uncomfortably close.  I could reach out and pull her into a kiss.

      I don’t.  I have better control than that.  But it’s still tempting, nonetheless.

      She takes a step back, reluctantly, as if she wants to stay here.  

      “Bye, Tyler.”  Lindsey says, before drawing her sword in a rapid movement that I can’t follow, as disoriented and occupied as I am, her blade cutting against my arm and drawing a few drops of blood.

      “I win.”  That’s right, we never finished our duel.  Her lips curve up before she whirls around and takes off, disappearing back into the magic aura and down to the second floor.  

      I can’t help but grin.

      Just like her.  

      “You okay, Tyler?”  The sole remaining person of my party asks.  Morena.

      “Yeah.  I’ll see them all again soon, so it’s not that bad.”  It’s too long.  Much too long.  But I don’t really have a choice.

      “That’s the spirit.”  She nods, agreeing.  “So...this floor...”  I can tell that there’s still a bit of melancholy around her.  With Krona’s absence...

      “Hey.”  I say, suddenly, getting Morena’s attention.

      “Hm?”  

**“Let’s have some fun.”  
**


	19. Innocence

My steel blade crashes against Morena’s, sending the girl sliding back a few paces from the sheer strength difference.  This time, though, she manages to keep both her sword and balance, charging forward to begin the confrontation anew.

      It’s been a good week since the defeat of the second floor boss, giving us plenty of time to acclimate to the icy-cold floor.  It’s breathtaking, honestly, watching the snow rain down, coating the abundant greenery and wooden-style buildings.  

      It brings back some nice memories, too.  Of Anna...of Lindsey.

    _They’ll be back soon._

      I shake my head as if to clear it of my thoughts and focus on the girl in front of me, blocking three stabs with her sword.

      “Don’t stab so much.  You don’t have the speed of Lindsey nor a second blade like myself, so you’re left open.”  I instruct.  She bobs her head in acknowledgement before trying a horizontal slash, instead, one I parry nearly effortlessly.

       She’s gotten far better.  Enough of one to where she could pose a fairly significant threat to a low-level swordsman.  That does sound rather patronizing, of course, but to someone who has had no training previously nor the build for it...

        Definitely impressive.  

        The anti-magic field of the second floor boss still haunts our memories, and we’re all determined to never be caught off guard like that again.  Morena is working on developing a way to suppress her magic during fights like those, and she’s made a fair bit of progress.  When I reach out to her with my Tracker senses, her mana reservoirs are vastly diminished from what they normally are.

      She has a very warm energy.  

      When she’s done perfecting the technique, she’s promised to teach it to me, and the party when they return.  It sounds great.

      Essentially, what she’s doing is a way to bypass an actual aspect of the world.  Like spitting all over gravity, or something.  That’s really cool.

       Kind of like this floor.  Heh.

      “Don’t overextend yourself too much.  Leaving yourself too open.”  It’s a powerful strike, yes, but it also lets me go under her guard to nick her left arm, leaving a precise cut so small that you could mistake it for a paper cut.

      “It’s good for finishing or disarming, but if you’re not reasonably sure you’re going to do that, then don’t.  It’s super risky.”  Like, if you mess up, you get stabbed unless you’re very quick, exceptionally powerful, or a dual-wielder.  Morena possesses none of this, and thus must fight smarter.

      “That’s only against other players, of course.  In terms of bosses, well, as long as you’re not about to get hit, feel free to be as risky as you want.”  Which is really what I’m supposed to be teaching her, fighting against bosses with antimagic fields, but giving her some way to fight other players without, well, killing them, which is what any of her ‘real’ techniques would do, is appreciated by the brunette.

     “So short and quick.”  Morena asks, to which I nod.

     “Let your instincts guide you.”  We exchange hits, though I tone myself down for her sake.  If I really wanted to, I could cut her to pieces in a few seconds, but that’s because I’m a natural fighter.  And extensively trained.

     But Morena has determination, really good reflexes, and an innate skill that I’ve only ever seen in myself, and Anna.  

     I purposely give her an opening, though only for a split second, and she takes it, her sword slapping my wrist and sending it out of my grip.

     “There you go.   You’re getting really good at this.”  She’s not even using the Battle Trance.  Speaking of which...

     “You really need to...”  I pause.  Do I really want to ask sweet little Morena to hide her emotions?

     ...

     “Yes?”  The Phoenix Magician asks, tilting her head sideways curiously.

     ...It’s for her own good, right?

     “Er.  Nothing.”  I’ll get Lindsey to teach her, or Anna.  I don’t want to be the one that makes her emotionless...or even give her the ability to make herself emotionless.  It seems...evil.  

      Even though it could potentially save her life, it just feels...wrong.  Like Lindsey put it:

     _“You want me to purposely mess up my mind?  No!”_

      Morena seems too innocent.  That’s what it is, I think.  The Battle Trance is a definite survival tool.  Helping her obtain it just feels off.

     Though, honestly, I’m very much surprised by the fact that she doesn’t already have it.  I mean, the number of life-threatening situations she’s already been in...

     Well, I guess it makes sense.  If you activate it by forcing your emotions down...

     Well, I guess it’s understandable that she doesn’t have the Battle Trance.  Or maybe she does, but it was activated purely out of reflex.

      “I think we’re good for now.”  I say, picking up my sword from off the ground, and the brunette nods.

      “Okay.”  

      “Seriously, though, you did great.  Nice work today.”  Though that’s no different.  If anything, the girl has determination and resolve in spades.

      “Thanks.”  She can’t exactly say, ‘You too.’, because we both know that had I actually been trying, the battle wouldn’t have lasted that long.  

       Though, if she had her Battle Trance, I wonder if she could put up a more serious fight.  She basically has the form down completely, something that surprises me immensely.  Though...

       No, this isn’t something that should shock me.  Memory loss.  So of course her reflexes would carry over, but not the knowledge.  

       She has form and reflexes, but lacks speed and strength.  She makes up for that, though, with incredible quick-thinking and coordination, something I definitely did not expect.  It’s just like Anna, actually...

        “Tomorrow, I’ll train you to fight a shield-user.”  Morena gives an affirmative, sheathing her blade.  We only have her using one so she can rapidly switch between wand and sword depending on the situation.  

        We walk back to the nearest inn, stepping in to escape the snow.  Even indoors, however, the frost seems to permeate the air.

        And we’ve dressed appropriately for the occasion.  Well, Morena has, anyways.  A simple, but constant pulse of my fire-based mana is all I need to stay warm, and it does amazing things to my control.

        Morena prefers to dress up a little, instead, a simple blue scarf around her neck and white fingerless gloves adorning her hands.  That doesn’t seem to do much for the cold, though, and I’m guessing that she also pulses her mana when the temperature gets a little too bitter.

       Well, she is the Phoenix Magician.  I guess her latent energy would be far more potent than my own.  

       Speaking of magic, I have my own skills to work on.

       The reason I have such a difficult time branching off to Ice skills is that I’m already attuned my energy to fire.  A natural progression would have been, say, lightning.

       Instead, I’m doing my best to allot for Ice - the exact opposite of fire.  There’s a reason it’s taking me so long to do this.

       I could’ve had workable lightning spells in under two weeks, and general mastery in three months.  Ice may very well double that time.  But it’s worth it.  I need defensive spells.  Ice is extremely versatile in the sense that it can serve both as offense and defense, and you can reuse the material.

      I chose fire, though, because it’s the cheapest in terms of energy and, overall, the most powerful.  What it loses in practicality it makes up for in brutal strength...and explosions.  Its defense is sheer offense...and flames, I guess.  A flame shield stops people from charging.

      Earth is essentially the opposite of fire in function, being a nasty defense to break, though it has limited offensive use.  It also offers, interestingly enough, a bit of mobility.  Walls to lift yourself up, mud to slide on...  It’s pretty versatile and somewhat cheap in energy use, but it mainly functions as defense, a massive turn-off for most magicians and players.

     Lightning is similar to fire in brutal offense, though it’s extraordinarily versatile.  After all, there are a lot of conductive materials, for one, and lightning often chooses to bounce.  Which is extremely effective against groups.  It has a defense against metal projectiles, though, repelling them.  The drawback is that it has ridiculous energy costs, for the most part, and it doesn’t have much defense application.

      Wind loses much offense and defense both, but it’s extremely useful for mobility and by far the most versatile magic.  Depending on how you use your magic, you can cut or batter.  You can move faster, take flight, divert opponents or certain projectiles, cause traps, enhance fire...

      And it's even somewhat cheap.  The major drawback?  Wind is freaking loud, and very much visible as a disturbance in the air.  You will never launch an attack that an experienced player doesn't see coming.  Additionally, it takes a lot of magic to hold out, though not a lot to initiate, so you can launch weak attacks rapidly but must expend energy to make them particularly useful...Then, of course, there isn’t a defense made for particularly powerful attacks, and it’s absolutely worthless against fire.

     Definitely something worth considering.  Fire is brute strength.  Versatility is something potentially more deadly, however.  You can’t, after all, prepare against something you don’t know is coming.  

      Ice is still exceptionally versatile, though.  I don’t have a lot of mana, so the ability to use my surroundings rather than create ice out of thin air and magic is useful.  And this is quite possibly the best floor to focus on that aspect of my magic, though, given the natural material already in the air.

      It’s also where Morena is at her worst, but only in Phoenix Magician form.  Her standard magic, barring fire, is still as strong as ever...and given her unique ability to spit all over the supposed laws of magic, that’s saying a lot.

      At this point I am seriously considering her as one of the strongest players in this game.  I’ll have to duel her sometime to confirm this.  I mean, we’ve had a fight, of course, several fights, but only one was ever serious and that was interrupted before either of us had a clear upper hand.  Heh...

      Though I’m no slacker in that department, myself.  My fire-based magic is growing stronger, and I’m slowly beginning to experiment with the magic itself to create my own unique attacks, just like Blood Inferno.  Ice, too, is making slow progress...not much, but slow progress.  

      The progress I’ve been making has satisfied me so far, though.  If it should have taken me four weeks to have a workable ice spell, it has only taken me two and a half, in the form of my completely unique ice armor.

      It’s not listed in the standard list of spells, anyways, so I assume it’s my own invention.  Rather than learning standard ice spells, I decided to try and make my own abilities.  That way, people have a harder time reacting to them.

      ...And I’m not limited to the restrictions of existing abilities.  The issue with making your own spells, though, is that you have to be familiar with the element.

      Fortunately enough, I’m no stranger to ice and snow.  Ice armor wasn’t a hard concept to form anyways, given its rather simplistic purpose.  If I had tried to make something more complicated, I would likely still be working on it.

      Well, I AM still working on quite a few ideas.  I know Morena is, as well, and generally she finds far more success than I do.

      Mostly because she can come up with her own stuff, which is completely unfair.  The hot-ice crystal she gave me before our first boss fight was only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her actual abilities.  

     As it is, I’m limited to two elements...though, them being polar opposites of each other, it’s not like I’m low on tricks.  I have an impressively powerful fire affinity already, and my rapidly-growing ice abilities are already showing their use.  A previous duel with Morena pretty much proved that much.  

     But while usable, it’s not useful.  My limited applications of ice magic have devastated my already small mana reserves.  I can’t reasonably expect to use it in battle without using it as some sort of trump card...because it’s so draining.  It shouldn’t be nearly this bad, it’s only because my grasp of the element is still so weak...

     And there isn’t much I can do about it, except to keep using it.  Simply meditating with my mana is enough, though it’s harder than it sounds.  I don’t just sit there and let it flow through me.  I actually have to connect with it on some sort of...spiritual, at best guess, scale, and explore it.  That’s the best way I can define it.  To focus?  I have no idea.  Whatever.  It’s weird, I know, but that’s how it is.

     There’s plain using it, of course, but that exhausts me so badly that I tend to stick to standard meditation.  It has saved me on multiple occasions, though, so I can hardly complain.  It’s still irritating that I’m still weak.

     Just being straight-up shown my inability to do something frustrates me to no end.  Morena helps me with the stress, though, mostly by functioning as a living target dummy.

     Though I’ll never use anything too serious against her directly.  The protective urge that I feel for her has never faded.  That, and her general childishness - though not immaturity - leads me to treat her like a little sister.  

    I think she enjoys the attention, honestly.  At times, when we’re sitting on the couch, she’ll lean against me, or rest her head on my lap.  

    I’m not terribly sure how to react at times like those, so I act  normally.  She doesn’t seem disappointed, though, if she is.  

    It’s pretty much a given, I guess, that she hasn’t quite given up her crush on me.  I’m pretty sure this isn’t what one would call sibling behavior, though I guess I’ll never know.

    Speaking of familial relationships...

    I wonder if Raffy and Tony are brothers?  Granted, they don’t share any physical characteristics, minus the fact that both of them have the same light-brown shade of skin, but...They’re very familiar with each other, I can tell.  Well, it doesn’t take a psychologist to figure that one out.  But more so than normal, there’s a certain kinship that seems to transcend friendship.

   “...Tyler?  You okay?”  Morena’s voice brings me back to the present.  We’re standing outside the door to our temporary room, though she doesn’t have the keys.  I do.  And while there is no impatience in her voice or face, the way she’s fidgeting implies that she’s been waiting out here a while.

     Did I really slip that deep into my thoughts?  Hm.  That’s awkward.  

     “Yeah, just thinking a lot.”  I unclip the keys from a ring on my belt.  

     Everyone has one.  It’s just hidden better than most for some.  

     Like, seriously, everyone needs a utility belt.  How could you possibly live without one?  There are literally no drawbacks to it, and plenty of positives, mainly the ability to quickly access something you need.  

     Mine is pretty small, though, and black to fit the rest of my clothes.  It holds two small pouches on the left and right respectively, a clip on my right for keys, and a throwing dagger on the left.

     Functional and stylish.  It’s pretty cool.

     ...Morena doesn’t have one, and neither does Anna, but they have the excuse of being a magician.  Either way, they should carry mana potions on them, just in case.

      I’ll talk to them about it later.

      “You’re doing it again.”  She reaches up to pat my forehead awkwardly.  “You don’t feel sick.”  

      Heh.  She’s so much shorter than I am that she’s forced to reach up just to touch my head.  She actually comes up to about my chest, putting her at...hm...1.6 meters (5 feet, 3 inches).  Short.  

      Lindsey’s a few centimeters taller than that, and Anna’s just a hair taller than her.  

      This time I snap back to the present of my own accord.

      “Sorry about that.”  I open the door and reclip the keys to my belt.  

      “You sure you’re okay?”  There’s genuine concern in her eyes.  How sweet.

      “Yeah.  A bit tired, I think.”  Morena nods in understanding.  

      “Good night, Tyler.”  

      “Good night, Morena.”  It’s actually sunset, but it’s the thought that counts.

      After she departs, I quietly undress, changing into more comfortable sleepwear.

     The brunette I live with now is incredibly empathetic.  To say the least.  Kind, as well.  She may have the purest soul I have ever seen.  

     Too innocent.  But prepared to fight, all the same, but not for herself, for her friends.

     Activation by desperation.

     That’s what we considered.

     But the unspoken thought was, _desperate to save **my** life._

     Does Morena love me?

     And...if I reject her, if she so chooses to take that path, what will happen to our friendship?

     It’s not that I don’t like her.  I like her too much, I think, and that’s why I can’t view her that way.

     Lily immediately comes to mind.

     I can’t love.  Not after her.

     It’s not possible anymore.

     I toss and turn, trying my best to find sleep.

     I’m not successful, but it’s the thought that counts.


	20. Thunder

The obvious argument only comes to me after I get up from a sleepless night.

     The age difference.

     Actually, I don’t know how old Morena is.  She looks fourteen or fifteen, but, for all I know, she could be older.  

     ...Or younger.

     Her demeanor suggests the latter.  Pure, innocent naivety.  I don’t hold it against her - honestly, it’s one of her most attractive traits.  But it’s still there, nonetheless.

     Perhaps that innocence is the exact reason why I refuse to get any closer than comfortable friendship when it comes to Morena.

     I don’t think I’m ready for a relationship, regardless.  There’s Lily to think about.

     Yeah.  Enough with this talk.  It’s just going to hold me back.

   

     Projecting my consciousness into my mana feels utterly strange.  It’s like floating in a suspended tank of water...except the tank’s not really there, the water’s not really there, you’re not really there, and everything is moving around.

      Bad explanation, maybe, but it’s not really something you can describe.  You just have to do it.

     Today, I’m trying to see if I can identify each and every molecule of water and turn in into ice.  

    An impossible task, under normal circumstances, but if you concentrate hard enough you can make out a single molecule at a time, and then if I wash my ice-based magic over it, I can freeze it.  One at a time.  It’s a fairly monotonous task, and it requires complete and unbroken concentration.  It’s not an easy thing to do, either - my directed mana must be pinpoint accurate.  Anything less and the molecule bursts, and I lose my concentration.’

      I must be sitting here for hours, finding each little bubble of bonded hydrogen and oxygen, rearranging it at the molecular level through nothing but what can only be described as magic.  There’s no science to this, no science to any of it.  No real explanation.  It just happens.

     Do A to get B, after all.

     “Tyler.”  A girl’s voice says softly, breaking my concentrated state.  Immediately, the temperature seems to have dropped drastically.  

     “Sorry to interrupt you, but you’re in danger of freezing the entire room solid.”  Ice coats the floor in a three-meter radius around me.  I realize that sweat has actually frozen solid on my face.

      Kind of gross, but it’s pretty neat.  If Morena notices, she doesn’t comment.  

      Exhausting work.  My reserves are nearly completely depleted.  And it hasn’t been hours, rather, thirty minutes.

      I exhale, exhaustedly, letting the rest of my concentration go.  The ice coating the ground and my face shatters immediately, disappearing in a burst of crystal.

      “You’re a lot stronger than last time.”  Yesterday, the most external change I produced was a cool breeze.  Today, I’m forming ice out of thin air with no conscious effort.

      It’s heartening to see so much progress.  

      Morena rests a hand on my shoulder and I relax as a gentle pulse of her mana flows into me.

     The energies, hers and my own, fuse easily, compatible.  Her intent is to help, not to harm, and as such it is integrated flawlessly.  I feel a lot stronger, now, not tired at all.

     Her magic is potent, and warm, just like Anna’s, though even more calm.  Serene.  

     “Thanks.”  I say gratefully, to which she nods.  

     “It’s no problem.  Just got back from training.”  Rather than working indoors, Morena’s practicing elemental fusion outside, using the snow as cover for her actions.  What she can do with easy access to all five base elements is honestly amazing.

     She seems to be specializing in crystal, now, having come up with four or five different varieties.  One’s specifically defense, a mix of ice and earth mana, something she’s dubbed Hard Ice.  She’s revealed the bright blue crystal to me and tested it against me.  A Blitz Stab, the same attack that destroyed two scales in the fight against the Desert King, merely cracked it.   One of my strongest moves, and she can produce the thing with relative ease, only needing a few seconds to make a useable wall.

      It’s incredible, and opens up a wide variety of options for her.

      Another crystal type, this a mix of electricity, fire, and earth, is far more volatile.  She uses it as a projectile, the thing exploding violently when hit.  She’s found plenty of practical use for it as a ranged weapon, creating deadly shuriken, amongst other things.

      But she’s also begun using wind to mimic the Phoenix, Blizzard, and Tempest mages.  Fire and wind, ice and wind, electricity and wind.  Slowly but surely, she has begun incorporating enhanced attacks into her arsenal.  While, of course, not nearly as powerful, it’s enough to give her a distinct edge in combat.

     A truly frightening ability, indeed.  I would love to see her fight against Anna.  Raw intellect and skill versus creativity and surprise.  It would be very interesting.

     “You ready for swords training?”  That’s right, today I get to use a shield against her.

      Excellent.

      “Yup!”  Oh, Morena, I can’t wait to show you my true skills...

 

      I parry her attack almost lazily, her steel blade ricocheting off the edge of a shield I’ve commissioned from the fallen party of the second floor.  

      “You’re making this too easy.”  I taunt.  Part of it’s in jest, and, more importantly, I’m trying to make her mad enough for her to lose her focus.

      “I underestimated you.”  She admits, as she tries a fairly acrobatic maneuver.  It’s an interesting strategy, I think, but also easily parried if you know how to.

       I’m not even running my Battle Trance.  It’s unnecessary.  It isn’t that she’s bad, it’s that she’s not at all accustomed to fighting against my shield.

       “You’re outmatched.  You can use magic, if you wish.”  This isn’t going anywhere, and there’s no real help I can give her.  She has to bypass my shield, and the sword in my right hand that I’m not even bothering to attack with, to hit me.  

     “No!  I can do this!”  A redoubled flurry of slashes bounces off my shield.  She’s gotten stronger, immensely stronger, in the span of just a week and a day, but it’s not nearly strong enough to overpower me.  

     “Alright.  I’m going to have to step up my game, then, to aim to defeat you.”  Whereas before I was just being a moving practice dummy.  Immediately I step forward, right under her guard, and solidly bash her with the shield, sending her tumbling away.  

     For a dual-wielder, it’s not hard to exchange a sword for a shield, and it has some interesting benefits.  If the metal is light enough, it becomes nearly worthless against strong magical attacks and brute force, but it’s amazing for a build like mine, and in a fight against a lighter hitter.

     All of these requirements are essentially met.  If Morena had started throwing out magic, I would’ve dropped the shield in exchange for agility.  But she isn’t, and I never thought she would.  She’s determined like that.

     She gets back to her feet, but it’s too late.  I’m already controlling the tides of battle, forcing her back.   

      I swing my sword, holding hers back as she goes in for an overhead strike.  

      “You’re much faster.”  I compliment truthfully.  There’s quite a bit of improvement between yesterday’s fight and today.  She must have been practicing.  “Not good enough to touch me, but better.  Much better.”  To emphasize my point, I lunge forward with my shield and knock her back again, though this time she retains her balance.

      She makes some sort of angry sound in her throat as she darts forward again, looking winded.  I think she just...growled at me?

      It’s cute, that’s for sure.  My sword cuts into her arm, a light mark as a warning of what I could do if I had been an enemy instead of her trainer.  

      “Overextended.”  I chastise, before deflecting a downward blow with my shield and whacking her in her temple with the flat of my blade.  Pressing my attack mercilessly, I hit her with another shield bash, sending her to the ground.

       “Shield-users will exploit every single chance you give them, if they’re any good.  They use their shields to create openings, block, and attack, then retaliate with either their shield and sword to counter.  You have to fight conservatively.  If you make a mistake, it’s over.”  She gets back to her feet.

     “Do you concede?”  I ask, seriously.

     “No.”  Figures.

      She dashes at me again, metal scraping against metal once more.  At least she’s learning.  Every single one of her attempts have gotten increasingly better, mistakes disappearing as she realizes she’s making them.  It’s very good.

      I lash out with my sword to take advantage of a misstep on her part, but, as it turns out, her loss of balance is just a ploy and she dodges to the right before lashing out, in my shield’s blindspot.

      I barely dodge.

      “Wow.”  I say, honestly impressed.  Though it’s disappointing that I fell for that trap.  I’m better than that.  She acknowledges the compliment with a bob of her head before she engages me, her sword clattering against my shield.  

       Her eyes show her next moves, and I utilize this, watching her eyes even as I parry the quick movements of her blade.  It doesn’t take long to fluster her.

       “W-What?”  That’s an unintended side effect.

       Though not an unwelcome one.  She stumbles slightly, this one for real, and I dart forward and knock her back with my shield again.   

       It looks rather painful, though she gets up, glaring.

       “How hard do I have to hit you to make you give up?”  I ask.  

       “You’ll have to knock me out.”  She responds, her grip tightening.

       “I see.  Well, you really have improved a lot, Morena.  You almost got one over me, there.  Remember that, please, so you don’t feel too bad when I finish this up.”  Then I activate my Battle Trance, lunging forward to dictate the pace of battle again.

       The fight doesn’t last for much longer after that, my shield nearly totally abandoned after the initial blocking of her strike to force her on defense, my sword lashing out in rapid blows.  She does a very good job of defense, but forgets my other hand.  The second I get her sword away from her body, I lunge in and smash my shield against her head, the force sending her flying about four meters away.

       She’s unconscious before she hits the ground.

       Lowering my shield, I sigh.  I really do feel bad about that, though at least she hasn’t broken anything.

       It was an excellent fight, though.  I sheath my sword, clip the shield to my back, store her blade in her inventory, and pick her up, cradling her much like I would a child before heading to the inn.

**  
  
**

    It storms, surprisingly, hail falling down like miniature meteors.  Morena watches at the window, clearly interested in the abnormal weather.

    “You’ve never seen hail before?”  I ask.  She seems unnaturally fascinated with the ice.

    “...If I have, I can’t remember.”  She replies, saying the phrase without a single inflection.  She doesn’t mean it out of spite, and, as a matter of fact, says it like it’s another ordinary statement.

    But it’s harsh, all the same.  I’ve managed to forget...I shouldn’t have.  

    How do you forget that someone’s lost their memory?

    It’s something I should probably explore, but I really don’t want to right now.  Despite the awkward statement, the mood remains fairly peaceful.  Even with the ominous weather...

    “You know I like you.”  Her voice, tentative, hesitant.

    And even with those loaded words, her voice is as serene as the time I first met her.

    “...Yes.”  I finally reply.  There’s no point being untruthful.

    “I thought so.”  She turns her head my way, a simple smile set on her lips despite what is building up to be a rejection.  

    And I know she knows.

    “You don’t see me as a woman, do you?”  I hesitate.

    “Of course I-”  Morena cuts me off.

    “No.  Not as a female.  As a woman.”  How can she talk about this so calmly?  This should be tearing her apart.

     “I...”  And the answer is no.  I don’t.  She’s a girl, not a woman.  She can’t even be fifteen.  

     “According to my menu, today is my birthday.  I’m sixteen now.”  She shrugs.  “Who would’ve guessed?”  

     ...Wow.

     “But I don’t think I’ll ever be a reasonable partner for you.  Now or ever.  Because you see me as a surrogate little sister, right?”  So calm, yet each of her words bring new revelations to me.     

    They’re like punches in the gut, not letting me have time to think before answering.

    “Yes.”  I go with my heart.  

    “I don’t think I mind too much.”  There is a very real smile on her face.  It’s not wistful, it’s not sad.  It’s happy.

    She’s smiling for the sake of smiling, I think.  

    “Oh?”  I probe.

    “Yeah.  I think you love me.  Just not in the way I want.  And I can live with that.”

    I-

    A bolt of lightning falls from the sky, the flash of light vying for my attention.  The growl of thunder is covered up by Morena’s shriek.

    “You-”  I’m still mentally reeling from her words, every shock she’s thrown my way-

    “Wha-” She starts, but another lightning bolt hits the street only a few meters outside our window.  The brunette actually screams this time, though she does her best to muffle it under her hand.

     “Lightning?  Seriously?”  I exclaim, then pause.  

     Well...weather lightning isn’t the same as magic lightning.  There’s no thunder with magic lightning, no flash, just a relatively slow bolt.

     I guess, to someone like Morena, lightning could actually be scary.

     And she’s scared.  There’s no way she’s able to fake this reaction, her skin pale and her breath coming in short pants, her entire body trembling.

     Though she is trying to hide it, I’ll give her that much.

     “I-I’m...n-not...”  I think she’s trying to tell me she isn’t scared, but another lightning bolt brings a full-body flinch to her and it’s pretty obvious that she is.

     “Yeah, you are.  Oh, geez.”  I walk over to her and wrap her in a hug, trying to calm her down.

     I’m kind of at a loss as to what to do from there.  I don’t really know if there’s anything I can say, because I can barely understand her fear.  I mean, you’re indoors.  It’s never going to hit you.

     But fear can be irrational at times, I suppose.

     I don’t say anything comforting, mostly because I don’t have the words to.  

     It takes a long time of sitting there before she calms down...slightly.

     “T-Thanks.”  There’s the smallest of blushes on her face.

     She’s still trembling, though, so it’s pretty obvious she’s still on the verge of having another panic attack.  This is only punctuated by every flinch caused by another lightning bolt and the increased trembling from every thunder roll.

     “You should go to sleep.  By the time you wake up, it’ll be over.”  She nods, slowly.

     “O-Okay.  What about you?”  She genuinely seems concerned.  Cute.

     “I will, too.  Was going to meditate, but there’s no point with this stupid storm.  It’s just going to disrupt my concentration, over and over again.”  

      “A-Alright.  Bye, Tyler.”  I let her go.  

      “Night.”  She wanders off into her room, and, after a moment’s consideration, I follow.

      Lying in my bed, with the cacophony of weather noises, thunder and hail, I have some time to think.

      Well, the confession I was so worried about happened.

      Though it wasn’t much of a confession, more of a...confirmation?  Yes.  A confirmation of her feelings towards me, and my limited ones towards her.

      Morena is both far more perceptive and mature than I have ever given her credit for.  And, at the same time, so innocent and pure.

      How do you get such opposites in the same person?

      It’s a mystery I can’t solve.  

      Her smile...

    _“I don’t think I mind.”_

      So, despite her feelings, she has no problem with the fact that I don’t return them?  That, despite what was essentially my confession that she is nothing more than a little sister to me...

      She’s happy?  I don’t understand.

      I’ll talk to her one day about that.  But not now.  We have time, now.

      We’ll see what our conversations are like...tomorrow...

      “Tyler...?   Are you awake?”  Morena’s whispered voice, coming from my door.  When I look up, I meet her gaze, her head poking inside the doorframe.

      “Yeah.  What’s wrong?”  She has that scared look on her face, again, presumably from the lightning.

      ...I don’t like it.

      “Can I-I...erm...”  She blushes deeply.

      “Can I stay here tonight?”  

      I hesitate.

      “If...it’s not t-too much...”  There’s a conflicted look on her face, her eyebrows furrowing.

      “Yeah.  It’s alright.”  She pauses.

      “Thank you.”  I slide over to one side of the bed, and she takes my place, facing me.

      There's an awkward pause.

      "I'm sorr-"  She starts, but I cut her off.

      "It's fine, really."  And to accentuate my point, I pull her closer, my arm wrapping around her.

      Cue blush.

     But then she relaxes.

     "Thanks."  There's a bright smile on her face, one I return.

     "No problem."  Her eyes flutter shut and her breathing slowly relaxes.  It takes some time, but both of us eventually fall asleep.


	21. Confidence

I’ve never been a heavy sleeper.  So I know the second Morena wakes up, mostly because her tired yawn, at such a close proximity, is enough to rouse me, too.

     Without opening my eyes, I can feel her freeze as she realizes that she’s lying in my bed.

     With me in it.

     The thought of her shell-shocked face is enough to elicit a tiny smile from me, though I try my best to hide it.

      It’s very warm here.  Morena has managed to press herself against my chest, trapped in my arms.  She’s small enough to fit, if barely.  

      “Tyler.”  Her breath tickles my neck.  “You’re squishing me.”  

      I open my eyes, meeting hers.  Her head is unexpectedly close to mine, only a few inches separating us.

      “Sorry.”  I loosen up quite a bit, giving her space to escape.  Which she does, her face pink.

      Things have been so peaceful recently.  Training.  Eating.  Sleeping.  Training.

      Something’s bound to ruin this routine, but until it happens, I won’t bother to care.  I’m much happier in this little, nearly totally isolated floor, though people have started trickling in, confident enough to progress floors.

      Each floor is drastically harder than the next.  This is why so many are still hiding on Floor 1, taking the world at a very languid pace.  Safety first, after all.  This is probably why I am so self-confident - having been a part of both floor clears does that.

     Though I have to note that I can only take credit for finishing off one, and I wouldn’t have got anywhere without the help of my teammate.  Getting slapped around by an overgrown armored reptile does loads for your humility.

     And essentially getting eaten does a lot to remind you of your vulnerability.  

     Though I got myself out of my own predicament.  It reassures me that, if anything, I am getting better at this surviving thing.  

     Hm...I wonder how my new ice-type ability is doing today.  Will I be able to pull it off successfully?  I hope so.

      Staying off the books seems to be a successful tactic in terms of learning ice abilities.  Actually, that might come from my fairly extensive mana meditation.  Immersing oneself in their own energy does wonders for learning how to manipulate it on a molecular level.

      Though...while having a devastating area of effect, I have yet to find an effective use for it.  When I was designing it, all I knew is that I wanted something flashy and impressive.

      ...Those parameters don’t necessarily mean usefulness...

      At best, I could slow someone down.  But that doesn’t seem terribly useful, unless I run into someone so much more faster than I am, and even then, I’d need to have a few seconds to charge it up, which doesn’t ever happen.

      So I’m working on it.  Hopefully, I can strengthen it to the point where I can actually do real damage with it.  By making the ice expand vertically as well as horizontally...

      I’m getting ahead of myself.  At this point, it only has a useful range of about thirty meters, and that’s using all of my mana.  That kind of displacement would really mess me up, unless someone was actively feeding mana into me.

      Such specific conditions are almost impossible to find in a real battle, anyways.  So what I have isn’t quite battle-ready, but it’s a start.  

      Today, Morena and I are going to go explore the dungeons for the first time.  We’ve spent over a week training diligently, but we have yet to fight anything besides each other.  That changes now.

      “You ready?”  Morena’s at the door, a slightly impatient look on her face.  I hadn’t even realized she had moved, let alone noted the passage of time.

      When I think, I really get into it.  

      “Yeah.  Hm.  Actually, we should head off to the market.  We haven’t done that yet, have we?”  And I have no idea why.  Checking out stuff should have been my first priority.

      There might even be ice-based gear and loot, here.  Maybe something that can help me with the execution of my own techniques.  Pretty bad lapse on my part.

      “Ah.  Yeah.”  Judging by the tiniest smirk on her face, Morena agrees.  I was busy.  And tired.  I have an excuse.

      ...Not really, but it helps to tell myself that.

      “North, right?”  I point in the general direction of the market.

      “...That’s the wrong way.  The market’s south.”  She says, clearly (and badly) suppressing giggles.

      “No it’s not.”

      “We passed the market on the way to the inn.  It’s south.”  

      “...We did?”  Right.  I was pretty out of it on the way here.  Whatever.

     “...Yes.”  Morena looks slightly exasperated.  

     “Huh.  Well, okay.  What are we waiting for?”  I march off in the general direction of south.

     “Just kidding.  It’s north.”  I spin around, glaring, but she looks unrepentant.

     “...”

     “...”  She stares back, eyebrow raised as if asking do you really want to do this right now?

     “You’re taking the role of annoying kid sister way too seriously.”  I finally say, ruffling her hair.  She makes a face at me, sticking her tongue out.

     It’s mostly comfortable silence after that.

     A sister, huh?  

     She doesn’t seem to mind the comment, even though it could have hurt.  Unintentionally, of course, but it could have.  

     Actually, she looks rather content right now.  Satisfied, I continue walking.

 

 

     Hm...

     “I can’t believe you’re actually taking longer than me to shop.”  Morena giggles as I roll my eyes.

     “I need variety.”  Half the stuff I’ve picked up aren’t even swords, but that doesn’t make them any less useful.  Knives, a few ninja throwing stars, a long bamboo pole, a spool of thin, strong wire...

     “But...what are you going to do with these?”  She points to my current spread, more specifically at the three arrows that do not have a bow for them.

     “Rig them to a trap.  Throw them.  You never know.”  I reply.

     “And this?”  She’s pointing at a thin rod of unidentifiable steel metal.

     “Throw it.  Hit something with it.”  I answer.  

     “...And this?”  Her gaze falls to the dozen or so bottles of drinking alcohol I have lined up.

     “I think that’s pretty obvious.”  I say, shrugging.  She gives me a disapproving look.  “What?  For all we know, I could die someday soon.  May as well take pleasure in the various aspects of life while I can.”

     She doesn’t seem to have a reply for this, so I continue perusing the stalls.

     “...Okay.”   She finally mutters.  I guess she understands, even if she doesn’t want me to.

     I finish my shopping a few minutes later, paying with the remainder of the money from the drops of the first floor boss.

      

 

     “So...this is it?”  It seems straightforward enough, an ice-coated cave that heads downwards.

     “Yeah.  I guess.”  It’s just snow and ice out here.  It makes for a breathtaking sight at first, of course, but it quickly becomes dull.  This is one floor I don’t want to spend much time in...though the second floor, I suppose, wasn’t fun at all, either, with its endless sand dunes.

     This is more my environment, bitter cold.  Judging by the large amounts of active mana bubbling around inside of Morena’s body, as shown to me by my Tracker ability, she seems to disagree.  A lot.

      Though, to her credit, she hasn’t complained about it.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had, but she dealt with it simply.

       It’s another sign of her maturity, I guess.  Though...she is just as old as me.  Speaking of which...

       “Sorry I missed out on your birthday.”  I murmur, as we trudge into the icy caves.  The insides are lit by faintly glowing blue crystals.  Beautiful.

      “I didn’t tell you about it, so you couldn’t have known.  Don’t worry about it.”  Now that I think about it, I didn’t even tell her “Happy Birthday” before she went to bed.

      It’s something that bothers me.  It may have simply slipped my mind.  I have never celebrated my birthday, after all.  Nor have I celebrated anyone else’s.

      My birthday wasn’t something I ever mentioned to Lily, and she did not live long enough for us to celebrate hers.

      Urk...

      These memories of the blonde-haired girl hurt more than anything, now.  Happy moments corrupted by the fact that I will never see her again, outside of my dreams.

      “I enjoyed my birthday.”  Morena says.  I turn to look at her curiously.  

      The smile on her face seems to glow in the low light.

      “I’m glad.”  And I honestly am.  

      “Look ahead.”  I follow her gaze to the Mutated Ice Guardians lying ahead of us, seemingly not aware of us.  

       ...Advanced versions of the Ice Guardians I fought on the first floor.  Excellent.  I can already deal with their movement patterns.  However, this terrain is not very good for that.  It’s a corridor...and, while rather wide, a breath attack would consume the entire area, leaving us nowhere to dodge.  

       “Fight at range.”  I advise.  “They have a nasty ice breath attack that you wouldn’t be able to dodge in the corridor.”  

       She seems to find this rather amusing.

      “You’re forgetting who I am.”  The brunette replies, fire curling around her entire body.  This isn’t a transformation, though...

      The heat is incredible.  I can’t be harmed by it, of course, seeing as we’re in the same party, but I can feel sweat already beading on my forehead in this icy cave.  Around us, the ice seems to melt away, dissolving at her presence, leaving behind nothing but damp stone.

      The Mutated Ice Guardians, alerted by her spiking energy, turns toward us.  This time, they prepare the breath attack and fire it in just over a second, a ridiculous improvement from their old charging times.

       Not that it matters.  The icy cloud dissipates the second it gets even close to Morena.  

       “You don’t have to spend all your time protecting me, Tyler...”  Morena begins, reading my mixed emotions correctly.  “I’m not as weak as I seem.  Don’t forget that.”

       It’s like she can read straight from my heart.  I feel a bit of guilt, because what she says is exactly right.  I haven’t been underestimating her, per se...but I do feel like I should be protecting her all the time, rather than the other way around, and by doing so, I may have inadvertently hurt her feelings.

       Nothing I said should have given this impression.  My words were merely cautionary.  But she looked through that, past just the why, and delved deeper.

      “Sorry, Morena.”  She’s right.  I can’t keep sheltering her.  I’ve been doing that a lot, more than I should and far more than she deserves.  I can protect her, yes, but I have to let her fight for herself at times.

      “You know I didn’t mean to belittle you, right?”  I add as an afterthought.

      “Of course not.”  She replies, white fire curling around her fingertips.  “You’re not at all like that.”  Morena’s counter is a blazing spiral of white fire that utterly eradicates all signs of life in the corridor.

      “Keep that up and I might start calling you my older sister.”  I say, grinning.

      “I’m not sure if that’s an insult or a compliment.”  The girl replies, a smile on her own face.

       I’m forcefully reminded of Anna.  

       Her words are pretty much something that would belong in the redhead’s mouth just fine.

       Is she doing fine on that quest of hers, I wonder...

       Heh.  She’s probably doing fine, blowing up everything in her path.  She’s always had a fairly interesting attraction to fire, after all.  If she had been the Phoenix Magician...

 

        **Meanwhile...**

 

       Anna sneezes while watching as the mountain collapses in on itself, the burning remains of a wooden village visible in the falling debris.

       Then she turns around to admire the forest fire in front of her, caused by a few too many _accidentally misplaced_ Fire Blasts.

       “Why do I feel the urge to kick Tyler in the shin right now?”  She wonders out loud, staring the burning plant life in front of her.

       Her reply is another once-proud oak tree crashing to the ground.

 

   **Back on the Third Floor...**

      That would have been a terrible disaster.  

      It’s a good thing that isn’t the case.

      A very good thing.

      “I’m surprised that this is so easy.”  We’ve run into a second new mob, the Mutated Cave Bat, and while quick and airborne, they are no match for my super-precise Fire Bolts.

      I’ve noted that Morena does not have this same precision, acting more like a juggernaut of sorts.

     “We counter very well, that’s for certain.”  Morena completely counters the Mutated Ice Guardians, negating their breath attacks and completely annihilating them in the closed corridors.  I one-shot the bats with one hit each, tracking them with ease.

     “I hope there aren’t any other surprises.  If this is all there is, the dungeon, at least, will be easy.”  

     Morena kicks my leg.

     “You just jinxed us.  Now something’s guaranteed to happen.”  I blink as I reach down to rub the feeling back into my leg.

     “That’s just a silly superstition.  Nothing’s going to happen because I hoped it wouldn’t-”

     I’m already spinning around, swords in hand, to deflect the blazing ring of fire thrown at me at an incredible speed.  The distinct clang of metal against metal sounds out through the corridor as I slide back, grunting, before overpowering it and shoving it aside.  

    “Not bad.”  A voice says from up.  Obligingly, I glance in the direction of what appears to be a female talking.

    Long, onyx black hair and a white, featureless mask covering her face, like the one Lindsey wore in our initial conversation.  Long black robes give her a rather evil look, pinned down to her waist.  Two black, razor-sharp rings are held in her hands.  She’s a good distance away from us, but what disorients me is the fact that she is standing on the roof.

     Standing on the roof, upside down.

     What the hell?

     “Too bad it was all for naught.  I hate to break up your little date, but your time is up.”  Time?   

     “Who are you?”  Morena asks, fire swirling around her wrists.

     “My name?”  I get the feeling that the fairly tall girl is smiling.  Judging from her figure, she’s our age, if not slightly older.  “You can call me Ilya while you’re still breathing.”  

     In a lightning-fast swipe, Ilya hurls both of the chakrams at Morena.  I step in, not because I know she can’t deflect them, but because she isn’t good at precision attacks and anything she can do will probably be an unnecessary mana expense.

      I dart to the side as it nears me, stabbing sideways with perfect timing to trap the ring on my blade.  In a second, equally-clean movement, I catch the other right out of the air, both metal rings coming to a stop instantly.

      “I hope that isn’t all you have.”  I say mockingly, as I slip into the Battle Trance.  “If that’s it, this isn’t going to last very long.”  

       She doesn’t say anything.  The rings flash briefly before disappearing right off my blade, reappearing in her hands.

       “No.  That’s not all.  Not by a long shot.”  Electricity crackles around her rings.  “Prepare yourself!”   

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chakram is a metal ring.
> 
> Essentially, these things are super sharp metal rings that Ilya grabs by the inside (imagine a donut) and throws them, generally using the momentum of a spin to give it speed.
> 
> Getting hit by one of them is going to cause a really nasty injury, as they will cleave straight through you if thrown.
> 
> If you're having trouble imagining it, pretend that they're giant shuriken or something. The concept is the same.


	22. Confrontational

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you forgot, chakrams are moderately sized metal rings (about the width of your body) that are sharp on the outside. Used as throwing weapons.

        It is, surprisingly, Morena that makes the first move, flicking an array of blue crystal bolts with her wand in the blink of an eye.  Explosive Crystal.

        Ilya darts out of the way as they explode against the roof, sending shrapnel everywhere.  The explosion isn’t fire, as the fire and ice counteract each other, but the mist is still dangerously hot, and the shrapnel could disable or kill you if you block.

       It’s not something to take lightly.

       Two electric rings follow up, flying through the mist, and instead of blocking, I dodge.  Morena raises Hard Ice shields in front of her, electing to take the hit.  It’s dense enough to where the chakrams don’t even leave a scratch.

       I launch a Fire Blast in return, though there’s no answering scream that indicates a hit.  I take a step back as Morena produces a shield of blue crystal and offers it to me.

       “This might be more useful.”  Nodding, I sheath one of my swords and pick it up, noting the weight immediately.  It’s not too heavy for me, but it’s going to restrict my movements slightly.

       That’s fine.  This seems like it will be a long-range battle, anyways.  

       The second thing I notice is the slight drain of my mana, the energy leaving through my hand holding the shield.

       It must take energy to keep together.  That’s inconvenient, but not too much of a deal.  As it is, I will probably be dealing with the majority of attacks while Morena uses her magic to counter or attack as she wishes.

       A knife comes flying in from my left, and only a combination of Tracker sensory abilities and Battle Trance saves me, the blade ricocheting off of the edge of my shield.  

       When I turn around, Ilya is already lunging forward with a knife, aiming to stab Morena.  Fortunately, the brunette manages to respond in time by stepping inside of the blow before elbowing the taller girl in the cheek, sending her to the ground.

       I dart around the shield of crystal to support Morena, but it seems as though she already has the situation contained.  Ilya tries to kick out Morena’s legs from under her, but the brunette responds with a small pillar of Hard Ice under her feet that sends her up about six inches.  Ilya’s kick slams into the diamond-tough substance instead, and she reflexively jumps back, her head smashing into the back of the shield of crystal.

      From her upraised position, Morena fires off a Fire Blast.  Trapped between the pillar and the still-existing wall of Hard Ice, she doesn’t have anywhere to go.

      Or so I think.  Just before the Fire Blast hits, the girl disappears.  

      Just disappears, without a trace.

      The explosion decimates the Hard Ice wall, sending pieces of it flying everywhere before it disappears into thin air.  Morena’s knocked off of her little pillar, it, too, fading away.  

     I dart towards Morena as she hits the ground, though she manages to stand up without assistance, a few new scratches covering her arms.

     “That was fun.”  Ilya reappears, halfway across the corridor.  She isn’t even winded, much to my disbelief, though a tiny crack has formed across her mask where Morena’s elbow strike connected.  “I hadn’t thought you would actually hit me, Ms. Magician, so...congratulations.”  

     Neither had I.  Apparently Morena’s been doing some extracurricular training.

     “Thank you.”  Morena replies, beaming.  

     I sigh.

     “What?  She complimented me.  I’m supposed to thank her.”  The brunette next to me says indignantly.

     “I’m not even sure if you’re messing around or not, so I’m just going to ignore it.”  I finally respond.

     Morena refocuses on our opponent just as she disappears again.  

     That must be one of the other passive abilities.  Assassin.  You’re a little faster than normal.  The main things, though, are that you can turn totally invisible for short periods of time, cling onto walls and ceilings, and manufacture various poisons and potions.

    It’s dangerous, exceptionally so.  This one class alone is the reason so many player-killing incidents happen.  Besides the obvious direct attacks, people suspecting others of being killers...

    It’s messy, and the only drawback is that you wind up suffering in the magic, defensive, and strength stats...forcing you to rely on poisons and invisibility.  They’re no good in direct combat, hence the attempted sneak attack.

    However, an alert Tracker can sense invisibility and attacks as they come in thanks to increased sensory awareness.  In a sense, we are the anti-Assassins...but only if we’re actively probing for them.  Most people don’t do this, because it’s mentally fatiguing to do, and takes quite a bit of concentration.

     As a Battle Trance and True Battle Trance master, however, and as a fairly intelligent person, I have more than enough mental capacity to maintain constant awareness with only a limited portion of my concentration.  After all, in focused Battle Trance states, you force your brain to work overdrive to keep up.

     Tracker works much the same way.  The brain, after all, is a muscle, and the more you use it, the stronger it gets.  

     Therefore, I am always aware...which means that I know exactly where Ilya is.

     Sheathing my left-hand sword, I fire a basic electric bolt at her location.  She’s trying to sneak closer to us, presumably to launch a surprise attack, but as long as I’m conscious, that’s not happening.  

     Startled, she explodes into the visible plane again, hurling a throwing knife at Morena.  Ever alert, the brunette steps sideways to let it fly past.  My projectile detonates harmlessly farther down the corridor, Ilya’s bouncing against the floor behind us.

     Invisibility requires very little movement.  If you want to cover the distance, like she attempted to do, you would need to move very slowly.  Any sudden or jerky movements would result in the ability failing.

     It’s just the manipulation of light, after all.  

     Staying still is a lot better than moving, though.  If you move, you’re working harder to bend the light around you, and as such it takes far more concentration and mana.  

     I’m confused as to why Ilya tried it against me, though.  She should know that I am an experienced Tracker.  After all, I managed to block the fire ring sent from behind in her opening attack.  No other ability would have alerted me.  I suppose intuition could do it, but, in situations like that, she should have assumed Tracker.

     Secondly, how did she survive Morena’s attack?  That was a point-blank Fire Blast.  Invisible or not, there’s no way she should have survived that.  I don’t understand.  The smoke was enough to disrupt my senses, and I can’t track her precisely without them.  

    Because, in the end, sensory awareness requires good senses, and if she’s hidden in a cloud of smoke while a loud explosion erupts through a hallway, I can’t use them well.

    So what happened?  How did she survive?

    Morena doesn’t have the pure knowledge to solve the mystery, considering a lot of the information that she should have learned seems to have been wiped from her mind.  So it’s up to me.

    Damnit.

   I’m not good at puzzles.   

   In the meantime, though, all that there is left is to trade attacks.   Recovered, Ilya holds her hands out, looking expectant.  She isn’t disappointed, as two new shiny steel rings appear in her hand.

   Steel is a great conductor for magic, channeling every single element with the sole exception of earth, which isn’t channel-able anyways.  

    And she’s already shown an ability to run magic through the metal, though it doesn’t seem to have any noticeable effect.  The fire ring had incredible force for a thrown weapon, though, so that may be the effect.  

    And, of course, I imagine it has devastating effects on flammable objects.  Unfortunately for her, however, there is no advantage to be derived through that particular method.  She seems to realize this, as, rather than fire, the rings spark with visible electricity.

    I double-check to make sure that the thin rubber grips on my swords are still intact.  I don’t intend on falling to something as simple as that.

    Ilya hurls the rings simultaneously, though her aim is terribly off.  The metal rings, sparking with electricity, fly off to the side.

    The reason becomes obvious in a split second, though, as, rather than bouncing randomly off the walls, they spring straight back, creating a cross pattern as they fly towards us.

     Morena, however, handles it with complete ease.  Two electric tethers fly out from her outstretched wand and immediately attach themselves to the still-spinning discs.  With a wave, she rips them from their flight path and with a smooth, lasso-like movement, she throws them back with equal velocity.  

     Ilya dodges them, and the metal rings disappear behind her out into a larger room.

     “We need to get closer.”  I say, and Morena shakes her head.

     “She’s inviting you to do that.”  I study Ilya’s posture again, the way she seems completely relaxed, vulnerable.

     “Well...we don’t have many other options...”  I start, before trailing off as she looks at me strangely.

     “...You do remember that I am a magician, right?”  

     “Uh...”

     Alright, I wasn’t thinking.  

     It’s pretty clear that I’m mostly useless in the battle to follow, so I take a step back and allow Morena to lead.  

     With three quick slashes of her wand, Morena draws a glowing blue line in the air shaped like a lightning bolt before a circular movement redirects it at her opponent.  With a forward stab, large electric sparks explode from the bolt down into the corridor, much like how sparks would fly from a firework.

     Two flaming chakrams cut through the barrage of electricity, but Morena’s already retaliating, large chunks of Hard Ice flying from her wand to knock them out of the air before she launches a quick series of bright blue fire bolts.  

      When the light from all the magic dies down, both of us are forced to duck to dodge a razor-sharp barrage of electrified shuriken.  Ilya’s back up on the roof again, holding eight knives between her fingers.  When she catches sight of us, she hurls the weapons, though they seem to be far off, high above us...

     When glowing blue lines in the air appear, it’s only my Tracker ability that saves us.  I quickly unsheath both of my swords, fire already glowing bright around them, as I slash up.  My swords briefly push against the electrified wires connected to the knives before severing them, the light immediately fading.

     “Nice trick.”  I compliment.  A second faster and the wires would have been forced down, slicing us both up.  

     “Thank you.”  Morena glares at me, but doesn’t say anything.  

     “Heh.”  I’m willingly doing the same thing I playfully chastised her for.

     More rings come flying down the corridor as Ilya suddenly rushes forward.  This time, though, there are far more than two, more chakrams appearing in Ilya’s hand as fast as she can throw them.

      The brunette next to me blows them away, three at a time, with precise Fire Blasts, but they don’t stop, and Morena eventually throws up a wall of Hard Ice.

      The next ring that comes in is electrified, and Morena’s eyes widen in panic.

      “Move!”  She shrieks, as she dives and rolls.  I simply skip a little to the right, unsure of why she seems so terrified.

      The lightning-infused chakram tears right through the wall like tissue paper.  A normal chakram follows, and the once-strong crystal wall shatters like glass.  With no other choice, Morena is forced to draw her sword, immediately blocking two rings off of the blade.

      It’s immediately obvious that Morena, however, doesn’t have the same physical strength that I have, stumbling back from the force of the projectiles.  Before Ilya can capitalize on this, though, I’m standing in front of her, deflecting the attacks with relative ease.

      A flaming weapon comes in, but this time I’m ready, coating my blade in fire before swinging with as much force as I can muster.  

     This time, instead of being pushed back, I cleave the ring in two, the pieces dropping to the ground behind me.  My follow up swing sends the fire on my blade outward in a crescent wave of death.

     Ilya, only about a dozen meters in front of us, has no time to dodge the deceptively fast fire attack, and takes a direct hit, smoke and dust billowing up around her as the energy wave explodes.

     But rather than the scream of pain I expect to hear, the only sound is a dry laugh.

     “You’ll have to try much harder than that.”  She walks out from the smoke, completely untouched.  And I’m not the only one gawking, this time.

     “...I see.”  Morena whispers.  What she sees, I won’t know, as Ilya suddenly darts forward, two electric-coated swords in hand.

     It only makes sense that she’s ambidextrous.

     My own blades smothered in fire, I meet her attacks head-on, beginning a deadly ballet of death.

     She’s quick, and unexpectedly skilled, but not overwhelmingly so.  Lindsey, in fact, is more of a challenge than her.  With this in mind, though, I have no room to try any fancy tricks, as even one light tap from her blades will numb me.

     Morena seems determined to pull her weight, though, cutting in from Ilya’s blindspot.  As if expecting the attack, though, the obsidian-haired girl manages to sidestep her blow and lash out with a lightning-quick kick that sends the smaller girl flying back.

     I have no time to worry about her, however, as I’m stuck dealing with her full attention, orange and yellow slamming into each other in quick attacks.

     I finally manage to capitalize on an opening, feinting sideways before lashing out, my blade nicking her cheek.

     To my surprise, though, instead of the wicked burn I expect to see across her face, there is nothing but a tiny cut that isn’t even bleeding.

     “How?”  I ask, as our swords lock.  

     “You don’t honestly think I’d come to fight against the Phoenix Magician without being prepared, do you?”  Immediately, I understand, as I shove her back and lash out again, chipping her white mask.

      Fire protection potions.  Of course...

      She’s an Assassin, after all, and can make things like that.

      You can only use one at a time, of course.  This is to prevent overpowered mixtures, but even one is enough to give you the upper hand, especially if your opponent isn’t aware.

      “How do you know?”  I ask.  No one, with the exception of those we fought with, should know her identity.  

      “Our group has known longer than you have known her.”  She gets a lucky blow in, nicking my left shoulder and rendering it useless for a temporary period.  I let it hang as I focus on defense, and not dying.

      I feel rather than see a long-distance, precise bolt of healing magic flow into the back of my left shoulder, restoring feeling to it.  

      _Morena._

     I don’t use it right away, choosing to wait for a better moment.  She seems overconfident now that one of my arms are out of play, but...not for long.

     When I decide that her attention is as far off of my left arm as it will be, I strike with a rapid blow.  Alarmed, she leaps away, but I manage to give her quite a nasty slash, blood pouring down her side.  

     “Got you.”  I say, but Ilya shakes her head defiantly.

     “No.”  She hurls both of her swords past me, and I panic when I realize who they’re aimed for.

     It’s a good thing Morena is quick on her feet, or just clumsy, as she falls onto her stomach, letting the blades pass over her.  I’m not sure if she dodged or tripped, but I’m thankful either way.

     “That was a dirty trick.”  I say, turning back to Ilya, and she smirks, her hand coming up to her mask.

     “Everything’s fair in fighting.”  She pulls the white mask away, letting it clatter to the ground.  

     Woah.

     She’s really pretty...

     Fair skin, a small nose, full lips, onyx eyes with long black eyelashes.  She looks...very royal, if I had to put a name to it.

     Tall, but not too old.  A princess, not a queen.  She seems my age, if not a tiny bit older.

     Those same lips curl up into a half-smirk, and I frown as I realize that her other hand has been busy healing the cut I delivered.

     “Congratulations.”  The onyx-haired girl says, unclipping a small black hilt around her waist.  “I’ve never had to pull this out in an actual fight before, so consider yourself good.”  I study the odd machine in her hand for a second, trying to place it, before the realization sets in.

     “Where the hell did you get one of those-”  I’m cut off by the laser sword activating, the shining blade bright purple.

     They’re nothing more than energy conductors, sapping mana for a stable razor-sharp electric blade, but for that drawback they are wickedly powerful and sharp, and extremely light.

      In other words, perfect for a quick, but not excessive strong girl like her.  She shouldn’t have one, though!  They’re insanely expensive, even with all the money I’ve saved up from the two bosses, the miniboss, and all the players I’ve killed.  

     “That’s a secret.”  Ilya says, crouching low.  

     “Let’s see you guard against this, hm?”  And then she flashes out of sight.

**And this time, I can’t track her.  
**


	23. Counterbalance

Ilya flickers back into the visible plane right in front of me, that same smile on her lips even as she swings her weapon with deadly force.  

    It’s only luck that saves me, as both of my swords were instinctively forced into a defensive stance and it only requires a small movement to block the crackling blade just inches from my face.  

    Watching the sparks fly past my face shocks me back into awareness, and I manage to recover as she comes back in for a second strike.

    Her attack speed is vastly improved, as is her strength.  With two hands of momentum behind her, I find myself being forced back with every swipe of her laser sword.  

    This isn’t looking good.  She’s both quicker and stronger than Lindsey now, and it’s only my complete concentration stopping me from taking a serious wound.  As it is, I’ve taken multiple burns on my arms and face where she’s gotten a little too close.  They don’t paralyze, fortunately, but the injuries will quickly stack up to where I can not keep up anymore, and when that happens...

    I may need to slip into my True Battle Trance if the battle continues to slide in Ilya’s favor.  But...Morena...

   Taking the chance, I lash out with a kick, and it catches her off guard.  My foot smashes into her stomach and sends her flying back, giving me the space I need.  

    “Morena!  Go on!”  I scrape my thumb across the burn on my cheek, healing it as I swallow a Mana Regeneration and Healing Crystal in rapid succession.  

    “I’m not leaving you!”  She cries back.

    “True Battle Trance!  Get out, please!”  I shout back, as I let the dark power slowly consume me.

    I have to.   There’s no way I can win this fight without the cues I need.  I can only hope I don’t take out Morena with me.  

    Her footsteps fade around the corridor.  I can only hope I’ve made the right decision, and that she can defend herself.

    Then the darkness takes over completely.  

**  
  
**

    I can only watch the rest of the battle, transfixed.  I’m not consciously in control, yet I can control myself.

   What an odd paradox.

   Ilya seems to immediately notice the difference, skipping back with a look of shock in her eyes.  

   “W-Wha-”  I rush forward, my blades covered in pure mana, and with an X-cross slash, I send her tumbling back across the ground, bouncing from the sheer strength behind the slash.  

   And just as quickly, the pure energy dies away.  I can’t keep that up, True Battle Trance or not, for any kind of extended period of time.  That sucked my mana out faster than any ice technique.  

   It seems to have shaken Ilya up, as she struggles to her feet from dozens of meters away.  

   “W-What the hell is that?”  Just like Lindsey from way back when, her composure is rattled when I flip the tables.

   Unfortunately for her, there’s no room for pity in the True Battle Trance, and she’s soon to find that out the hard way.  I dash forward, my own speed significantly increased.  

   As I get into attack range, however, the scared shock turns into a feral grin.

   “Let’s play rough, then.”  She disappears again, and despite all the ridiculously powerful enhancements to my sensory awareness, she still manages to nearly blindside me, coming in from my left.  I pivot and immediately block with my sword before continuing the motion, channeling fire mana into my foot as I lash out with a magic-enhanced roundhouse kick.  

    She blocks with her blade, the flaming kick wearing itself out on the electric sword and protecting my foot from shock burn, but the force behind it sends her stumbling.  

    Taking advantage of this, I dash forward and bring my swords crashing down, sacrificing finesse for raw speed and power.  Rather than try to block again, she jumps backwards, pivoting on her right heel before disappearing.  

     I’m a little more prepared, this time around, and a swing so fast that it actually creates a visible air disturbance nearly cleaves her head off.  As it is, though, the force is enough to disarm her completely, sending the electric laser sword flying away into the corridor behind her.

    Ilya reacts instantly, two chakrams appearing out of thin air.  She throws them both while leaping back to dodge a retaliatory strike, though I knock them away with no difficulty whatsoever.

    She’s much faster than me, as I had already determined, and those stupid throwing weapons of hers seems to be limitless.  With those two things in mind, I can’t catch her with my blade unless she initiates close combat, and fire magic is useless against her.  My ice magic, the one thing that would be really useful now, is limited to defensive and supplementary spells.

    That leaves me with one option, and it’s not something that I think will work at all, but it’s worth trying, anyways.  I sheath my swords, finding that there is no longer any use for them.

     I pull out the long bamboo pole instead

     Ilya laughs.

     “Seriously?”  She asks.  I don’t bother responding.  There isn’t a point.  Nothing I can say will stop her, or make her hesitate, because it’s blatantly obvious that she wants this fight.  

    That just leaves pure skill left.

     I don’t have time to waste, though, so I charge ahead, the staff held out in one hand.  I allow my ice magic to flow into it, carefully, subtly reinforcing it at a molecular level with almost no visual cue.  

    Ilya seems to catch on immediately, unless the fire-based chakram is merely a coincidence.  Not batting an eye, I quickdraw a sword with my free hand and dart forward, cutting through it with a lightning-fast fire slash.  It doesn’t stop me for even a second as I power through, leaving behind melted and warped halves of steel ring.  

    She’s still leaping back while throwing her projectiles, but the time it takes for her to draw and throw is giving me enough time to catch up.  

    Unfortunately, she beats me, snagging the still-active laser sword in the midst of an acrobatic maneuver before suddenly reversing her movement, slashing forward.

    It nearly takes me by surprise.

    It would have, if her movement hadn’t been telegraphed, analyzed, and expected a full second before she did it.

    And because of that, my blade is already slashing as I duck low, aiming to cleave her legs right off of her body.

     What I don’t see, though, is her flip directly over my blade, her foot smashing into my shoulder on the way down.  I ignore the pain and whirl around, just barely blocking a strike from her reclaimed lightsaber with my sword.

     She flickered right before her flip.  Faded out and in of the visible plane.

     I see now.

     Though I can’t stop it, even if I understand precisely what’s happening.

     Those flickers of hers are stopping me from reading her movements, because there is nothing to telegraph when she’s invisible.  At those moments, even though I know where she is, I can’t see the finer details, and those are critical for determining what she’s about to do.

     The flickers themselves are caused by her forcing herself into an invisible state with her mana, though I don’t know the precise details.  But her invisibility is almost immediately canceled with her rapid-sharp movements.

      But it doesn’t matter, because by the time she’s appeared again, under a split-second, it is too late for me to read her movements and I’m forced to react on the spot.  

      It’s a perfect counter to the True Battle Trance.

      I lash out with the pole and land a direct hit across her face, sending her tumbling back as she doesn’t quite dodge.  The extended range plus the odd movement of the pole likely threw her off of her game.  The rapid snap-action of the bamboo, and that sudden acceleration, combined with the unorthodox weapon, was enough to catch her off guard.  

     It’s something I’ll gladly take advantage of, though, as I lunge forward in an attempt to decapitate the girl.  No room for fancy finishers, either.  This battle has gone on for far too long, and my opponent is far too dangerous.

     I may have succumbed to bloodlust, but, at the same time, I can respect her abilities.  A truly formidable opponent, indeed.  

     She rolls and springs up, pushing her hands off the floor.  Her covered feet nearly take my head off its shoulders as I sway back to dodge before stabbing several times rapidly in succession with my sword.  She deflects two of the hits, takes a light scratch on her shoulder, and vaults away before I can do further damage.

    I pursue her as she scrambles for distance.  That exchange was not at all favorable for her, as she now sports a nasty cut across her right cheek and a light wound on her right shoulder.  It’s a good start.

    My strategy is very simple:  use the sword primarily to attack and defend and the whippy bamboo pole as a sudden and brutal offense.  The pole itself can’t do much damage, unless I stab an opponent through the throat or other such soft spots, but it is perfect for creating openings, and that’s all I need from it.  

     It can’t take a hit like the kind Ilya deals with her lightsaber, but it doesn’t need to.  I am adept at defending with one hand, provided I stop her from locking in by using the pole.  There’s only so much of her insane onslaught I can take at a time without a second hand to freely back me up.  

     This is taking too long.  If I don’t drop out of True Battle Trance soon, then...I’m not going to walk away from this fight.   

     But if I slip out, then she may very well defeat me.

     I don’t have a choice in the matter.  It’s been far too long, way longer than the five minutes I should have restricted myself to.

     ...But breaking out is easier said than done.  Pushing against the darkness surrounding my mind is impossible.  It doesn’t give whatsoever.  

     This...is an issue.

     I can’t do anything about it now.  I just need to fight to win.  

     Ilya provides the catalyst for this.

     “You’re the best opponent I’ve had in a long time.  Even if I lose, I will enjoy every second thoroughly.  So...come!  Come with everything you’ve got!”  She says, and she honestly looks exhilarated, even with a bloody gash on her cheek.

     I’ll give her the fight she wants, then!  

     Her blade gives me a long burn down my right arm, but she pays for it.  Taking advantage of her stretched position, I lean in and swing the bamboo staff.

     It’s either a stick through her throat or letting go of her weapon.

     To my dismay, she picks neither option, dropping to the ground and slashing at my legs.  I quickly step back before lashing out, aiming to smash her into the ground with a stomp while poised to thrust my blade if she moves the wrong way.

      Again, though, she anticipates what I’m about to do and elects to roll backwards.  This doesn’t deter me from continuing with my strike, however, and this time I take a page straight out of Lindsey’s book - I throw the sword in my hand at her foot, aiming to pin her down.

      When she sees the blade, she panics and stumbles backwards, falling on her butt.  The sword lands right in front of her, piercing the ground from the force of my throw.  

     Not deterred, I swing my bamboo pole in a vertical arc and it slams into her jaw, knocking her back a substantial distance and lifting her into the air.  

     She retains her grip on her laser sword, however, and I spend a precious second pulling my blade out of the ground.  It’s all the time she needs to recover and begin her attacks anew.

     This needs to end, now.

     I throw the bamboo pole in her general direction and pull out a small shield, a stronger version of the one I used while training against Morena.

     “You’re really full of surprises, aren’t you?  That just makes this more fun.”  

     I’m not sure if she’s psychotic or not, but the exhilarated way she says it makes me honestly believe her.

     It’s getting to me, even through my True Battle Trance.  

     I charge forward again, trading blows rapidly and using my shield to block the majority of her attacks so that I’m free to attack rapidly with my blade.  She simply responds by integrating flickering into her battle style.  

     This completely eliminates my ability to use the True Battle Trance. I can no longer predict anything.  Now she is constantly disappearing and reappearing, leaving it up entirely to my reflexes to keep me alive while I strike rapidly at every opportune moment, predicting me with the same ease that I predict her.  And with that, I can not win without extending the limit.

      Too long.     

      One way or another, I’m ending it now.

      I purposely extend my next stab in the hopes that she takes the bait, and she does, ducking down with her lightsaber stabbing in my direction.

     My shield clatters to the ground in slow motion as my hand reaches out to snag her throat.  She begins to flicker out of sight-

     my last bits of mana violently exploding out from me.

     “Flash Freeze.”

 

     “Huh.  I thought I had seen everything you had to offer, but you seem to continually strive to impress me, Tyler.”  

      I don’t even bother to turn my head back up from where I’m facedown on the ground, reawakening after the strain of running the True Battle Trance for so long.

      Twelve minutes.  

      Far too long.

     But I’ve made it.  I’m not dead.  I’m not even terribly injured.

     “I figured out how to reduce the worst of the drawbacks from the True Battle Trance.  I didn’t go poking around for nothing.”  Oh, you...

     “So you aren’t going to die, though it’s a good thing I got here as fast as I did.  Do you know how hard it is to synthesize the antidote to what is basically you dropping dead from fatigue?  And then after that I had to restart your heart.”  

     “And then Morena comes running up to me in hysterics, but she calms down once I punch you in the chest a few times.  Though, honestly that made it all worth it.”      

     “So, yeah, my little trip was pretty informative.  Of course, I’ve learned a lot more than just boring stuff about the True Battle Trance.  Did you know most of The Book was actually just leading to other things?  So this isn’t even the only quest related to it, but it’s the only one I can do now.  Everything else is on higher floors, so I guess I’m stuck here for now.  That’ll be fun, won’t it?”  

      “Psst.”

      “Yeah?”

      “Be quiet and let me bask in my victory, damnit.  Do you know how hard that fight was?  Twelve minutes, damnit.  She forced me into the True Battle Trance for twelve minutes, and that’s after Morena and I had been fighting her two-on-one.  She was immune to fire, devised a counter on the spot for Morena’s Hard Ice crystal form, fought extremely well at both range and close combat, had a freaking lightsaber, and had the ability to duel wield.  Not only that, but she was an Assassin, and kept disappearing during our fight so that I couldn’t even track her well, and she negated my True Battle Trance with that.  And then, after all of that, I couldn’t even break the True Battle Trance, because that’s just not how it works, and I almost dropped dead until I literally turned her into an ice statue by grabbing her around the throat a millisecond before she stabbed me through the heart.  I actually felt the blade go into my chest and dig in, and I can still feel it, and it freaking hurts.  Half a second later and I would have been dead, actually died, damnit, so hush and let me relax for a second.”  

     “...A little fight and you’re all grumpy.  Sheesh.”  With a groan, I roll over, looking up into familiar teal blue eyes.

      Anna’s back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering why the True Battle Trance seemed to be completely useless, you'll see next chapter.
> 
> I don't put cure-alls (or kill-alls?) into my stories.


	24. Cornered

There’s a long, well-deserved break after that fight.  

     For all I know, the frozen statue of Ilya is still there.  I don’t even know if she’s dead or not, but she’s definitely out of action.  

    Fighting against someone who both knew about and effectively neutralized my True Battle Trance...was awful.  Without the advantages of True Battle Trance - superhuman sensory awareness and reflexes - it quickly becomes a detriment.  You don’t totally lose your mind, so you can strategize, but you can’t think past the kill.  

    I dropped unconscious from complete exhaustion the second my True Battle Trance wore off.  The negative effects of using its power combined with the detrimental effects of eliminating practically all of my mana in one ice-filled blast was actually enough to stop my heart.

    After Morena fled from the fight, she sent a panicked message to Anna.  The redheaded magician, already exploring the third floor, quickly sprinted down to our fight and arrived just in time to watch me collapse.

    From there, she carefully mixed the limited remains of my mana with hers and forced it into me to replenish my reserves before shocking/hitting my chest to bring me back.

    Using someone else’s energy doesn’t feel right.  It’s certainly less potent.  To make matters more difficult, my energy reserves were so drained that it will take days for it to start replenishing naturally.

    Which means I’m stuck as far as magical progression goes.  Twice now it’s been a finisher.  I haven’t ever underestimated magic, but perhaps I should put more effort into learning it.

     Then again, my battle skills have kept me alive to use it.

     Being a well-rounded fighter is as bad as it is good.  If anything, I certainly won’t run out of surprises.  

     However, it means I have to sacrifice power in one particular speciality to keep all of them active.  That’s a serious detriment.

     But choosing is so difficult, because the ability to surprise an opponent is such an invaluable tool.  Without staff training (and the withwheral to pick up one), I probably would have lost to Ilya.  The openings it created were enough to keep her off balance.

     And using the shield allowed me to go on offense.  Not like I hadn’t been attacking before pulling it out, of course, but the few hits I landed or the openings I created were generally done at the cost of self-injury.

     It’s nice being able to counter like this, but if I keep this up I may not be able to stand against a more specialized opponent.

     Damn.

**  
  
**

     Morena’s still pissed at me.  I know why, but I can’t do anything about it.

 “You don’t have to spend all your time protecting me, Tyler...”  

      “I’m not as weak as I seem.  Don’t forget that.”

      And yet I treated her like a little kid, telling her to leave when things got rough.  For her own safety.

      Even if my motivations were pure, I doubt she sees it that way, and I don’t blame her.  I would be mad, too, if I were in her place.

      It’s kind of depressing, actually.  Things feel painfully stilted between us, what with her blatantly ignoring me whenever she can get away with it.  It’s been two weeks since the fight, and Morena has yet to speak more than single-word responses to me. 

      If anything, though, at least Anna is back.  She’s been busy chasing down information about the True Battle Trance - reparations, as she puts it, for essentially stealing all of the information from The Book from me.

      I had almost forgot about that, actually, and can’t bring myself to care much.  Reading is not something I enjoy, and I’m terrible at the theoretical stuff, anyways.  I excel at the physical demonstrations but fail horribly at the academics.

       Part of this is due to the fact that I’ve always looked down on pure book-smarts.  In a world that centers amongst fighting as a means to survival, physical ability is worth far more.

       Unless you’re a magician...which revolves entirely around intelligence-based skill.  Given this, Anna is completely capable of thriving here.

       It doesn’t mean I need to keep up in that particular aspect though, considering that I am very much a warrior at heart.  Magic is not -- should not -- be a focus of mine, no matter how important.  

       Useful, though.  Certainly.  

       I don’t know what to do now, so I train.  And train.  And train. 

      Duels with Anna are always fun.  She does her best to keep me away and I do my best to leave a light scratch on her.  At first, she used to win these fights, but as I adjusted rapidly to fighting against a magic-centric user, I won more and more frequently.  

      She uses elemental affinities to devastating effect, though - mixing fire and wind and lightning and water and fire and earth to create original attacks.  She doesn’t use them together, like Morena.  Her rate of fire is absurdly ridiculous.

      Apparently, she’s been hunting down and expanding upon some of the things that the Book has mentioned.  It’s clear that this detective work has paid dividends, though, as despite being a full six levels lower than me, she is easily able to keep up with me.

      Her spells lack the power and creativity both that Morena wields with ease, but in return Anna boasts both incredible intelligence and pinpoint accuracy.  Losing to her was frustrating at first, but she also took the time to teach me many of her tricks and strategies that I have steadily been incorporating into my own style.  I haven’t caught her off guard with anything yet, relying on pure agility to keep me in the fight (and to occasional victory) but it’s exciting and entertaining.

      Even more so when Anna pulls out a sword made out of glowing energy.  As I suspected before, she is proficient in swordsmanship.  Fighting at point-blank range with her is incredibly difficult, because she’s launching a steady stream of spells with her wand hand while slashing with the blade.

      I’m actually absorbing some of Lindsey’s style in the struggle to increase my agility.  While I retain my more grounded style, leaving out many of her acrobatic flourishes and turns, I rely on dodging more than blocking so that I can dedicate both swords to a steady stream of attacks.  Both of our styles rely on a devastating stream of fast attacks, and as such when our blades clash it becomes a contest.

     The first one to slip loses.  

     I normally fall first, simply because her attacks are far more controlled than mine.  But as my reflexes and agility are honed to a razor-sharp edge, I win more of our battles.

    The playful duels between Anna and I are a far cry from the sheer intensity of the ones I share with Morena now, though. 

    She isn’t stupid enough to turn down free training, but she’ll do her absolute best to make sure I leave just as beat up as she does.  She’s quickly developing her own powerful abilities as a swordmaster, but her style...

     Instead of the restrained grace that her previous style used, she has transformed it by utilizing magic.  Whereas Anna’s style uses magic as a secondary barrage of steady attacks to accompany her sword, Morena uses hers as a deadly support system.

     Her favorite strategy so far seems to be turning the ground into ice, then melting it wherever I go.

    The water isn’t too much of a deal, besides the potential to slip, but then she decided to go and electrify the ice before spreading it.

    So I can never remain in the same spot for too long, unless I favor electrocution.  

     It’s a brutal battle of attrition when it gets to that point.  When I wised up and began wearing rubber soles, she edited her style further.

     I dodge a roundhouse kick by throwing myself back - a close thing, too, because there is a razor sharp blade attached to the bottom of her shoe.

     When her foot lands, she pivots at an insane speed before lashing out with her blade, an attack I barely manage to block.

     Instead of my foot sliding backwards on the ice like I’m used to, I find hard, unforgiving crystal, and I barely manage to throw myself to the side in time to dodge a superheated blast of steam.

    Crystal...mines?

    I don’t manage to dodge the kick thrown at my face, and the sharp blade attached to it cuts my cheek open pretty badly.

    I scramble to my feet pretty quickly after that, before escaping another superheated blast as another crystal explodes. 

    I solve the solution with magic.

    “Raze!”  The same attack that overpowered Lindsey’s brutal ice-type area-of-effect move works here, melting the ice.

     It also has the effect of triggering every single crystal mist bomb at once, and I am thrown back from the force of the explosions.  

     Immediately, I’m concerned about Morena, but as she steps out from the explosions unharmed, it turns out she’s perfectly okay.

     And encased in Hard Ice crystal armor.

     “Little bit too much for a training duel, don’t you think?”  I’m ready to forfeit.  I’m sure I could break it, and I’m relatively sure I have a counter for the thing, but it could seriously hurt the girl inside.

     “No.”  Morena says, before she chases after me, sword flashing.  I grit my teeth and block, fire curling around my sword as I force her back before kicking her in the stomach area.

     I almost snap my ankle doing so.

     She blinks, amused.

     I mean, hey, I could cut off your hands or stab you in the eye, if you need me to counter as if it was a real fight. 

     That would also be unspeakably awful and I would never consider it outside of the True Battle Trance. 

      She comes at me again, disregarding blocking since I can’t do anything remotely safe to fight her, and I’m forced on defense.  

      I don’t want to snap her wand, either.  That’s just cold.

      Alright then.  We’ll play your game, I suppose.  

      I dance back, letting a trio of slashes flash in front of me, before abruptly launching myself forward and sending ice magic bursting out in front of me in the form of snowflakes.

      Alarmed, she jumps back, but it’s far too late for that.  With a hiss of pain, her armor shatters into crystal as she drops to her knees, her sword and her left hand frozen solid.

      Her eyes are spared, of course.  I directed the mana lower so that I wouldn’t cause serious damage.

      “The alternative was directing an electric stab into your body, but that would’ve caused far more damage.”  I say dryly, wrapping a hand around the affected wrist and concentrate, seeking out my ice mana.

       It calls out to me, and I let it flow back into my hand, drawing the ice away.  Her hand reappears quickly, flesh-and-blood and completely healed.  

      She doesn’t react beyond a glare and an experimental flex of her fingers, but I’m completely accustomed to it by now and ignore it.

      “I’ve already told you I’m sorry.”  I say briskly.  “If you’re not going to accept it then I can’t do anything else.”  No response.

      I didn’t expect there to be one.  This happens after every fight. 

      I let my magic seal the cut in my cheek, ignoring the blood that has been dripping onto the ground this whole time.

      Silent treatment isn’t fun.  Can’t do anything about it.  

      Hurts a bit, but I deserve it.

     I visit the dungeon, alone this time, tearing through the monsters with ruthless determination.  I’m so far over their level that they are literally no threat to me.  I’m only here to blow off steam, in the end, and nothing more. 

     It just so happens, though, that I stumble upon someone I thought wouldn’t be there.

     Of course, that person is unresponsive and frozen in a block of ice, but that’s just a secondary detail.

     “Didn’t think I’d run into you again.”  Not quite a block, but certainly frozen.

     “Thought you would have faded away by now.”  The fact that she’s still here is proof that she is very much alive, and now that I’ve expanded my own capabilities.

      “I wonder if you can hear me.  Then again, this is something that no one else has seen before, so I could very well be traversing new things, here.  

      Ilya doesn’t respond.  It’s not physically powerful. 

      “I’m not worried about fighting you any more, I don’t think.  I’m fast enough to fight you if you struggle.”  The laser blade is gone.  I guess the ice destroyed its systems.

      “Oh, I guess I’ll release you.”  I place a hand on her forehead, draining my mana out from her. 

      It works far faster than the lengthy process I expected it to take, all of the ice fading away in just under ten seconds.  Rather than the ice slowly drain away back into me, it resists...then shatters all at once, dropping a flesh-and-blood girl to the ground.

      That was unexpected.

      She lands on her knees, breathing heavily.  I expected her to remain unconscious...but, of course, that was just a conjecture. 

      I take out a Healing Crystal from the pouch on my waist.  “Here.  This should heal the remainder of your injuries.”  Slowly, Ilya turns her head to me.

      “Why?”  Her voice isn’t raw like I expected it to be.  Actually, it seems like the unfreezing just took her out of the ice the way she went in, except she’s clearly fatigued.

      “For science.  Also because I don’t really like to kill.”  We’re ignoring Adam’s party and that party on floor 2, of course, but those were personal.  

      Adam was a...jerk, to say the least, and that second party decimated my teammates, so it’s only natural that I dislike them.  Ilya, though...

      I mean, well...she wanted to kill me, of course, but...

      “Also, for information.”  She nods tiredly.

      “Okay.  Can I nap first?”  I’m not sure if she’s leaving the choice up to me or what, because she’s already curled up on the ground. 

       “After you join my party, so that you don’t kill me in my sleep or something.”  If she’s in my party, she can only inflict minor injuries to me after we both accept a duel, one of the party functions.  This way, she can’t turn on me.

      And if she leaves the party, there’s a notification and ten minutes before she can hurt any of us, but we can hurt her, so...

      Even if she tries to kill us in our sleep, the notification will wake us up and then we would be able to kill her without harm to ourselves.  It’s foolproof.

      “Okay.”  I send her the invitation and she accepts it.  I don’t trust her yet...

     Though this was just like the situation with Lindsey.  Hm...

      It’s different, though, for a reason I can’t explain.  Doesn’t matter right now, at any rate.

      I pick up the now-slumbering girl and put her on my back before setting on the trail back home.


	25. Challenges

Understandably, this causes problems.

      Morena begins to talk to me again.

      The manner in which she goes about this, however, almost makes me wish she hadn’t.

      “...What has Anna been teaching you?”  I ask, slightly amazed.  The two magicians have been spending an increasing amount of time together, but...

      “You’re an idiot.”  Morena finally says.  

      “Seconded!”  Anna says cheerfully from across the room.  I shoot her a poisonous glare.

      “Yeah, laugh it up.  But, seriously, what’s wrong with what I’m doing?  It’s foolproof!”  I say heatedly.  

      Ilya sits on a nearby chair, looking bored.

      Hasn’t spoken one word since I brought her back.  Sneaking her in was easy -- but, of course, she made no effort to stay hidden once she woke up from her nap.  I’m convinced she did it on purpose just to spite me.

      “First of all, she tried to kill you!”  Morena seeths.  Being yelled at by a girl that could easily pass for thirteen is a new experience, and not one I’m particularly fond of.

      “Secondly...”  She runs out of steam.  I try very hard not to crack a grin.

      I fail, and she glowers at me.

     “So did Lindsey.”  I object.  

     “But that’s -- that’s...different!”  She says, pacing angrily.  Ilya winds her hair around her finger.

    “Enlighten me.”  I respond, blandly.  I know I shouldn’t provoke her like this, but it’s kind of funny and cute and she’s talking to me, even if it’s to yell at me.

    “She tried to assassinate you!”  Morena snaps.  “Lindsey didn’t!”

    “Actually-” Anna breaks in, “She did.”  Morena glares at the redhead, who blinks owlishly.  

    “Yup.”  I add.  “Almost got me, too.”  

    Morena makes an odd little sound of rage that I didn’t know could be produced from a human throat before she spins around and stalks away angrily.

     There’s an awkward silence.

     “Is this normal for you guys?”  Outside of battle, Ilya’s voice is very quiet.  The black-haired girl gives off an incredibly serene aura.  

     I shrug.  “Just wait until Lindsey comes back.”  She’s alive, according to my party menu...just not answering any of the messages I’ve sent to her.

     I hope she’s alright.

     “Hm...Oh, I know.  That’s the brown-haired girl, right?  She uses a rapier, doesn’t she?”  Ilya says in recognition.  

     Anna and I share a glance.  “How do you know that?”  She asks.

     “I was told about all of the people in your party, and prepared to fight all of them at once if need be.  It’s too bad, really...I was looking forward to fighting her, Phoenix, and...”  She points a dainty figure at Anna, “You.”  

     “Me?”  Anna asks.  She’s picked out the most powerful people from the old party.  That can’t possibly be a coincidence.

     “Yup.  You’re the strongest magical here.  Morena’s good, of course, but she has her own...abilities.”  She leans back against the chair.  

     “How...?”  Anna asks, tentatively.

     I half-expect, even though she’s been completely cooperative up to this point, for her to freak out and start trying to kill me at any time.

     Probably the True Battle Trance thing.  I didn’t turn it on fighting against Lindsey.  I also don’t have odd thoughts about her.

     Well...there was that time...

     I pinch my knee to bring the world back into focus.

    “I was part of an organization.  It’s a group of strong players, and we’re supposed to hunt down and kill the other strong players not in our group so that we get all the loot.”  Ilya genuinely looks remorseful.  “Almost everyone in the system was blackmailed, somehow.  I have a little brother...”

     Who is probably dead now, what with your failure.  But this is probably something I should keep to myself.  Anna sends me a conflicted look.

     “If...you want, we can try and save him...”  Anna starts, but Ilya shakes her head.

     “It doesn’t matter now.  It’s been...what, two weeks since I attacked you?”  She directs the last words to me.  “He’s already dead.  It’s too late to save him.”  

     “I’m sorry.”  I don’t know what I’m apologizing for -- honestly, nothing I could’ve done.  I didn’t know.  -- but it still feels polite to apologize, anyways.

     She shakes her head.  “It’s fine.”  The way she speaks, a hint of covered anguish in her tone, says otherwise.  But I don’t press the issue.

     “Is there...a symbol?”  I ask.  “Something that helps us identify who’s in the group?”  

     “Yes.  They’ll probably change it now...somehow, they can hear everything we say.  It’s creepy, right?  But...now that they know I’m a traitor, they’ll change everything...and they’ll probably send someone to kill me, too.”  

     “We’ll protect you.”  Anna says, shrugging.  “You’re a party member, now.”  

     Ilya shrugs.  “Thanks.”  

     It’s not an indifferent shrug.  It’s a resigned one, like she knows she’s sentenced to death regardless.

    “What was the symbol?  I might remember others who have used it, and we can take them out first.”  I say.

    Her answer chills my blood.

**  
  
**

    “Hey.  Tyler.   You alright?”  Anna walks over to where I’m spread-eagled on the snow-covered ground, watching the stars.

    “Hm.”  I’m not.  

    Anna sighs, a little exasperated sound.  “There are plenty of explanations...don’t jump to the most obvious right away.  You of all people should know to look under the most obvious solution, especially when it comes to her.”

    “If it looks like a duck, smells like a duck, sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck, it’s a duck.”  I say dryly.  She sits down next to me, tucking away an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

    “Or you’re looking at it the wrong way.  And everything else.”  She dismisses my argument as invalid with a careless wave.  “Seriously, you know there are other explanations.  She could’ve just picked it up.”  

    “And it just happened to fit to her face perfectly, I assume?”  

    The symbol:  a white, featureless mask.

     Lindsey was wearing one when we first met, before I shattered it.

     “There have been stranger coincidences.  And besides, how would they have even organized a meeting?  People came from everywhere.”

     “Private messages, obviously.  It’s not hard to tell when someone’s strong, you know.”  And she damn well should know, walking around as part of the lead party.

     “A white mask doesn’t mean she’s automatically in that group!  Hell...she could’ve bought one for other reasons!”  Anna reasons.

     “Name one.”  I challenge.

     “Well...she’s a pretty girl, you know.  Maybe she just wanted to hide her face so she wouldn’t get harassed?”  I-

     “Wha -- you’re kidding, right?”  I say blandly.  “She’s...not-”

     “Aha!  So you have been looking!”  Anna grins, triumphantly.

     “Don’t be ridiculous.”  I deadpan.

     “I’m being perfectly reasonable here~”  Anna says, merrily.

     “Even if she covers her face, her...figure...is enough to prove that she’s a girl.”  I state in the most monotone, dead voice possible.

     Anna freezes, a blush growing.

     “You’re a pervert.”  She finally says, giggling.  I sigh.

     “Stop trying to change the subject.”  The redhead frowns at me.

     “Spoilsport.  Anyways, don’t you trust her?  At all?  She’s been here since practically the beginning, Tyler.  Let her explain herself before you jump to any rash conclusions, alright?”

      Trust...

     _A kiss on my cheek_

      Right.  Right.

      I must really miss her.

      “Okay.”  I say, placidly.  “Sure.”  

      “There you go.”  Anna says, patting my knee comfortingly.  “Come back in before you freeze to death or something.”  

       She stumbles to her feet and wanders back inside.  I don’t say anything, my eyes focused on the stars above.  

      _It’s a cold world out there right_

      That voice is familiar.  My eyes strain to make out the pinpricks of light above me.  

      Lily.

       _There’s a girl out there_

 

     

       It’s morning before I move again.  A sleepless night...

       I don’t need sleep.

       

      

      My steel blade clashes against Morena’s, but I’m already moving, ducking under her guard to slam a flame-wreathed fist into the crystal armor at her waist.

      The explosive force sends her airborne and over, but she catches herself with a nifty burst of wind magic and bounces back, a torrent of electricity and wind over her blade.  

      I don’t need to block it, as it turns out, when a lightning-coated chakram comes sailing in over my shoulder to knock her back once more.

      This time, Morena must fight both Ilya and I at the same time, to get her used to fighting multiple high-level opponents.  It’s also a good way to train my teamwork with the newest member of our party.

       Two more metal blades distort the air -- wind magic, I assume -- and Morena elects to dodge rather than let her armor take the hit.

       “Wind?”  I ask, skeptically.  We both know electricity is the best way to defeat Hard Ice.  

       “It looks cool.”  Ilya replies matter-of-factly.

       She’s actually pretty nice when you get to know her.  Serene, though.  Definitely relaxing to hang around with, unlike my more excitable companions.

       “I see.”  I don’t.  But okay.

     Ilya draws two metal swords, as I do the same.  With four blades Morena will be incredibly hard-pressed to fight against us...unless she gets creative.

     She doesn’t disappoint, creating a wall of Thunder Mist around her.

    That’s what I’ve decided to call her latest invention...a careful concentration of fire, ice, and electricity to create conductive droplets of water in the air.

     But to prevent others from taking advantage of this, she manipulates the droplets through polarity, creating a fine but powerful electromagnetic field around her.

     So, in a short radius around her, she is able to control the mist as a living weapon.  She refuses to tell me how it works...because I honestly can’t see how she does it.  

     Hell, she barely even seriously uses her wand any more.  All of this finer manipulation requires only slight hand motions.

      It’s kind of scary, how good she is.

     Ilya fades out of the visible plane.  At least, that much I can understand...kind of.  A very specific method of expelling some kind of special mana from your body to bend light...or something.  But if you get too excited, you lose the focus required...or if you move too sharply.

     Ilya attempted to (painstakingly) explain this method to me...and, no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get it down.  The energy she talks about so fondly, like a second skin, simply does not exist in me.  In this manner, I am physically incapable of doing the same thing.  

     No stealing techniques for me, it seems.  Perhaps Anna knows something about it, though I’ve never asked.  

     Even if she’s figured out the method, I don’t think either of us could do it, anyways.  But it makes me wonder if there’s an alternate way to do it, one that doesn’t require the Assassin characteristic.

    Wind...or lightning, perhaps.  It’s an intriguing thought.

    I hurl an electrically-charged throwing knife into the mist.  It bounces off the mist as if deflected by an invisible barrier.

   Figures.  Stupid polarity crap.  

    Ilya reappears at the side of the barrier and does a test swing with her sword, coated in electricity.  There’s a brief moment where she nearly overpowers the invisible electric barrier before a spike of mist jumps out and Ilya is forced to abandon her attack.

    But everything Morena does has a counter.  You just have to exploit it properly.  Hard Ice can not withstand the piercing ability of lightning.  Mist Bombs can not blast through earth-based walls.  And Crystal Mist...

    It’s obvious when you sit and think about it.  If she’s using water droplets...

    I dart in and expel a massive amount of ice mana her way.   The Thunder Mist freezes where it floats, the ice acting like a virus and weighing the mist down.

   Rather than wait for the dust to settle, Ilya palms a red potion and hurls it at the collapsing sphere.  When the potion hits the ice, it creates a sizeable explosion that knocks both of us back on our feet and disintegrates the leftover material.  

    I blink.

    “Just a little too powerful?”  I ask.

    “Nope.”  She says, grinning.  

    Pyromaniac.

    Morena’s nowhere to be seen, though...

    My Tracker sense flares up.

    “Move, Ilya!”  But it winds up being too late.  The ground at her feet collapses under her.

    A small hand covered in ice darts up and wraps itself around Ilya’s ankle.  In the next second, she’s pulled underground amidst a cloud of ice particles and dirt.

    Morena pops out of the hole a second later, looking cheerful.

     “One down~”’  

     Ilya follows her out, but, by our rules, she’s disqualified.  If you take the mock equivalent of a deadly blow then you’re out of the duel and can’t interfere.  And we all know that Morena could have - had it been a real fight and we been able to harm each other - that she could have filled the hole with fire or Mist Bombs or any amount of deadly substances.

     The black-haired girl immediately leaps back about fifteen paces and settles down to watch the rest of the fight, looking ruffled.

     Sighing, I activate my Battle Trance as Morena’s crystal armor appears around her.

     And immediately dodge left to avoid getting disqualified by a blade of wind that’s nearly invisible.  Only the sound alerts me in time to dodge the fast projectile.

     Seems like she’s managing to use wind for offensive purposes, now.  Neat.  I sprint forward, ducking under a second wind blade before shoving a massive amount of fire mana into my left-hand sword.

      Morena dodges sideways, but I predict it and stab the melting steel blade into her chest, receiving a light slash across my arm in return.  I sway backwards to dodge a second swipe before roundhouse-kicking her across the face.

      It hurts my foot, but there is just enough force in it to knock her to the ground (though this may have to do a lot more with how light she is).  Readying the blade in my other hand with electrical energy, I prepare to stab down into her heart.

      Not to kill, of course, but to break through the crystal armor enough to where it’s decided that I win the duel.

      My finishing strike is interrupted by an incoming fireball.  I’m forced to redirect my strike to block.

      Kind of reminds me of my very first fight against the Red Stalk.  The effect is much the same - I’m sent flying back when it explodes in my face, but the electric coating of my blade weakens it enough to where I haven’t taken nearly enough to be disqualified.

     I glare towards the offending fireball-thrower:  Anna.

     “Just evening the odds!”  Anna says happily as she helps the junior magician to her feet.

     Aw.

     “I think the odds were perfectly fine.”  I say, glaring.

     “Towards you?”  Anna replies.

     “Of course!  Those are the best odds!”  I shout back as I unsheath a golden sword.  

     Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever had a challenge where the odds were seriously stacked against me, like this one will be.  Something new, anyways...

     Exactly thirteen seconds later, as I’m dodging fireball after fireball, I decide that I don’t like new things after all.

      Anna’s a lot more accurate and casts quicker, but her fireballs lack the raw power that Morena’s do.  Of course, they’re still enough to knock me out of the game, but I can slash through them with fire-enhanced swings or absorb them with my enchanted sword, and I take advantage of this, ripping them apart with my golden fire-eating blade.

      This isn’t going anywhere, and I’m not in the mood to let them take advantage of this, so I rapidly back off, intentionally blocking one of Anna’s bolts to get sent flying back.  Expecting this, though, I have the dexterity and control to guide my flight so that I’m not thrown to the ground, landing on my feet.  

      Tch.  My enchanted golden sword doesn’t absorb instantly, after all.  It takes a second for it to absorb and by that time I’m already dodging or slashing apart three more.  Also eats away at my mana for everything I absorb, but it’s not too much of a problem.

      At this distance, I have much more time to react, and I continue to let my golden sword absorb shots while trying to figure out what I’m going to do.

      I can return fire any time I wish - literally.  The Scorch Blade is heating up rapidly in my hand, signs of overload.  I need to expel the energy or absorb it at some point.

      And if I absorb that much energy, I might overload myself.  There’s that much.

      But I want a guaranteed hit.  So I stop using it to absorb (in case it blows up in my face) and run sideways, hoping to line them up.  

      That won’t happen, of course, because they need a clean line of fire.  Abandoning that tactic, I drop to the ground, sliding past a fireball, and hurl the blade in their direction.

       Entertainingly, it’s Anna’s own attack that sets it off, a reflexive shot before she realizes her mistake.  

      Boom.

      The fireball is even bigger than I thought it would be, lighting up the sky.  Even approximately thirty yards away from the site of the explosion, I’m forced to back away from the heat.  

      I think I got both of them.

      Definitely a duel-winning injury.

      Suddenly, a bright light radiates from the center of the fireball as the fire appears to get...sucked in...

      Oh.

      No way.

      A powerful wind blows through our once-cold clearing, clearing away the smoke and dust.  

**Standing protectively in front of a clearly-injured Anna, mana glowing over the burns covering her skin, is the Phoenix Magician.  
**


	26. Spirit

      It takes me a second to understand.

      Anna triggered what was essentially a fire bomb using her own fireball.  That would make the source of damage her, not me.

      And as such, that would allow her to be injured, because it reads her as the person trying to hurt her, and this isn’t disallowed during a duel.

     So of course she would be injured.

     And Morena, seeing her friend hurt, would trigger Phoenix Magician to protect her.

     I immediately sheath my steel sword and pull out my second and last enchanted golden sword.  I only have three blades on me, two gold and one steel.

    Well, and the throwing dagger on my belt that I had practically forgotten about, but it isn’t going to help in this fight.  

    Morena does not look very happy right now.

    This is going to be a fight, isn’t it?  Neither of us can severely hurt the other right now, but at this point, it seems to be a matter of pride.

    Though I’m not sure if she’s truly capable of advanced thought while in this state.  This could very well be vengeance as far as she’s concerned.  Wonder what she’ll do when she realizes she can’t really hurt me.

     Lightning is out.  From what I remember of the first boss fight, she can absorb it.  Fire seems to be the only thing she can use, too...so no Hard Ice or any of her crystal variants.

     Ice, then, will be my saving grace.  I’ve had some time to refine it and the elements suit me, but I’ll have to use it pretty sparingly.  It still drains a fair amount of my mana when used.

     Discreetly, the wind around me picks up slightly, howling as a weak, invisible tornado forms around me, picking up snow and swirling it into the sky.  

     Morena’s fire cloak flickers, before abruptly turning a bright orange, the fire motifs glowing crimson red.  The snow around her vaporizes as a sword that appears to be made of fire fades into existence, falling into her hand.

     Cute.

     We dash forward at the same time.  I idly notice that she must be at least as quick as me, since we meet right in the center, trading a single slash.  

     My golden blade eats right through her fire sword, as I expected, and I lash out with a roundhouse kick, my foot poised to pass right in front of her face.  

     Her eyes widen in shock as she realizes that it is now coated in ice, a razor-sharp blade of ice attached to my sole.  It would slash right into the skin if this blade did not melt as it neared her blazing-hot skin.

     I curse internally.  I didn’t have enough mana in the blade itself to maintain it against the heat, and I’ve lost that surprise.  No matter, there are other tricks I have in mind...and I don’t think I’ll run out of mana.  Since fire is completely ineffective against her, I’m forced to absorb all the mana in the Scorch Blade...and her mana appears to be extremely dense.

    As it stands, I can’t actually completely absorb it.  The flame sword she wielded seems to have more mana in it than my entire store.  That’s insane.  

    It does mean, however, that I can pretty much spam magical attacks.  Of course, I’ll never keep up with her, but I can slow her down quite a bit if I’m throwing out my newly developed ice-magic abilities...and this nifty new thing I’ve invented.

     I back away rapidly to stall and think, and she doesn’t pursue.

     Ice Transformation -- simplified to Ice Form -- changes my abilities a lot, but has very specific uses.  What I do is radiate a dense layer of ice mana at my feet, freezing the ground beneath me solid.  At the same time, I channel a very specific blade of mana through my feet to create a rough, but solid blade of ice on the bottoms of my shoes.

     It definitely speeds up my maneuverability.  The blades cut through the ice with ease...and all I need to do is push off.  It took me a little time to learn the finer aspects of ice skating, a concept I’m taking off a childhood book...but the payback is worth it.  I can move, quickly, especially when I expel bursts of mana through my feet to launch me forward.  The same concept is used with quickstarts - launching off from the ground to accelerate extremely rapidly.

     Ice gauntlets also adorn my forearms -- but those are simply for protection.  I’m using extremely dense mana there, so I can block many physical attacks.  It’s a second defensive option, and a fun one to play with.  The arms are a minor target in fights -- if you can disable one that limits many of an opponent’s offensive and defensive options -- so this is a nice thing to have.  It’s also a good hand-to-hand weapon, though I can’t imagine myself being in that situation.  

      Minor adjustments to my character using nothing but mana, yet they change my style of fighting so radically.  The downside, of course, is the distinct drain of mana that comes from maintaining anything energy-related...but it works fine now, because I can simply absorb all of Morena’s.

      Actually, that should be my primary objective - to drain Morena’s mana to the point where she can’t maintain her Phoenix Magician form.  The way I’m running things, I am a complete counter to her -- all she can use are fire-based abilities and even getting my blade to nick her will sap a significant amount of energy, as there’s quite a bit visibly surrounding her.  

     Since her mana in a neutral state is fire-based (hence her fire-affinity) cutting her should sap her energy as well, even if she wasn’t currently in the state she is.  Given all of this, I effectively neutralize most if not all of her offensive and defensive options while wielding a weapon severely detrimental to her.

     And she can’t afford to stall.  Her state drains a massive amount of her energy.  I mentally thank an unconscious Anna for giving me that information in one of her little informational sessions - she still feels guilty for hoarding The Book’s information and is determined to force-feed me everything she’s learned from it, and from her recent journey to follow said information.

     I’m not a fan of book learning...but I’ll take everything I can get.

     Shaking my head to clear it, I idly note that Morena has yet to react, standing a good distance away with an indifferent look on her face.  I’m not sure if she’s figured out that she can’t stall yet, but I’m perfectly willing to play along.

    ...

    .......

    Nothing?

    Hey, I’m okay with this.  On guard, of course, but also totally willing to sit here.

    ...

    ......

    I dive sideways as the ground under me heats up suddenly, a pillar of fire bursting out from under me immediately after.

    Yeah, that’s not something I’m confident that I can absorb.  Even from a distance of several meters, there’s enough mana infusing the air that the blades in my hand are blazing hot, warning me of an overload.

     To be safe, I let out a focused wave of heat energy from the blade that vaporizes the snow and ice in front of me.  Morena absorbs it with no issues, as I anticipated, but it doesn’t really matter.  I just needed to let go some of that mana.

     Channeling more ice-based mana into the blades on my feet and the gauntlets on my forearms is amazingly easy.  Of course, the continual drain of mana is multiplied, but I don’t anticipate that being an issue.  

      I think it’s time for me to go on the offensive.  Abruptly draining my right-hand sword of mana (and overloading myself, which actually hurts) I focus the excess into the tip of the blade and swipe, releasing the energy in one attack.

     Crescent Slash is one of my favorite self-invented attacks to date, releasing a dense, quick-moving crescent-shaped blade of chakra that travels for a significant distance, cutting through weaker objects before exploding on impact, releasing the mana within.  So far, I’ve managed to attune all three of my current magic affinities (fire, lightning, ice) enough to where I can use the attack with all three, and the explosions vary depending on element, releasing the relevant burst of chakra.

     In this case, I’m using ice, because nothing else would work.  

     She dodges the attack, letting the blade fly past her.  I frown before creating a wider horizontal slash that forces her to jump over the crescent blade, leaving her vulnerable in the air.  

     Darting forward, I cut the distance between us within a second, my blade slashing upwards, aimed at Morena’s neck.  Her hand, pointed down, launches a fireball that propels her up enough to dodge my blade, and I’m forced to stand down to absorb the explosion from the mana attack.  

     She doesn’t get away completely free, though, because rather than passively wait for my blade to absorb the heat I slash through the fire, stealing her trick by launching twin Fire Blasts downwards from my swords to launch myself up into the air.  My kick slashes through her side as the ice skate’s blade cuts through the fire.

      Releasing the thin blade as I cut through destabilizes the pent-up ice mana, and it bursts inside of her for further damage, acting like deadly shrapnel.

      Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like my secondary attack did much.  With the shattering of the ice, the attack lost a lot of intensity, and probably melted under the heat of her cloaked aura.  Expected, I guess.  I let my second blade dissolve as I land, recreating the ice skates with only a moment’s thought and proceeding to make them just as dense as they were before.

      The Phoenix Magician hits the ground with a painful-sounding impact.  I choose to back off and stall rather than rush into what could very well be a trap.

      I can absorb her fire attacks with my swords, yes, but they have to be very close to the mana itself to do that.  If she were to, say, cover me in fire, I can’t cover every part of my body at once.

      ...Something to look into.

      And, of course, I win if I stall.  But it’s safe to harass her with long-range attacks to get her to expend more energy to dodge.

      As Morena gets up, I fire off three consecutive Crescent Slashes, forcing her to dash sideways to dodge.

      Hm...I forgot that she was quick in this mode.  

     But in Ice Form, I’m quicker.  The speed advantage doesn’t help whatsoever right now, but vindictive thoughts are amusing.

     Sigh.  This isn’t even all too fun.  I literally absorb her energy just by being close to her.  Her Fire Aura is a blanket of energy that I suck with ease.  A close-miss for her is actually a success for me, as I drain her energy.  We’ve only had a few encounters and it’s already blatantly obvious that I have a ridiculously unfair advantage.  All of her powerful fire attacks are useless at a range, because I can counter them with so much ease.  Up close, I’m quicker, probably stronger, and absorb her mana even through misses.  I even have the affinity advantage -- ice is the sole counter to fire, according to Anna, just as long as it is stronger.

     It isn’t fair for Morena, who probably won’t take this loss well.  I’m destroying her efforts with complete ease.  In fairness, she loses a lot of versatility in this mode in exchange for raw firepower, but...still.  It’s cruel, and it won’t help our friendship at all.

     And yet neither of us can stop this, held back by pride...though I’m not sure how her own thinking ability is affected by this.  Whether some other personality takes control as she watches (like my own True Battle Trance)...or if it’s just an enhancing ability (Battle Trance) this can’t possibly feel good for her.

     No choice, though.  I back up more, intending to stall.  This battle hasn’t been going on for too long, but the massive drain of running such a mana-intensive form plus the energy expended in her own attacks and the mana loss caused by my absorbing blades mean she can’t hold up much longer.  

     It’s only a matter of time now.  She rushes forward, cutting the distance with an amazing sprint, but it’s mostly futile.  A fireball explodes at my feet, sending out shrapnel, but a simple ice wall deflects the debris as my blade absorbs the fire, my other blade firing off a point-blank Ice Crescent Slash.

      Mornea dodges by darting to the side, but I’m two steps ahead of her.  My rapid lunge, from standing to stabbing within half of a second, is only partially dodged and my blade scores a deep cut across her left arm.

      I’m not in a good position to attack with my swords again, so I twist away in time to dodge another explosive fireball.  Unprepared, shrapnel blasts across my skin as I leap away.

      I see.  Rather than try to directly attack me, which is near-futile, she will use the environment to distract me while doing additional damage and forcing me to use up mana.  It’s not at all a problem to heal off the damage done with my excess mana...though I can only heal off light wounds.  I don’t have the skill to do more than small cuts.

      And I don’t think I will, either.  You have to lean really heavily towards magic to specialize in healing past the basic spell.  I’ve already decided to have a passing proficiency in magic to cover my weaknesses while retaining superior swordsmanship.

      Distance, as far as I can tell, is my biggest weakness.  Though...getting up my physical strength and speed are probably things I should work on, too.  

      Perhaps there is a magic shortcut for that...though I shouldn’t rely on it too much.  The second floor boss fight is still a concern of mine.  Anti-magic shields are no fun, after all, so I can’t rely on magic.  

       I dash back in, blades flashing.  Morena tries her fireball trick again but I’m already ahead of her, catching it with a golden blade before it lands while my other blade nearly hamstrings her before she jumps away.  

      A point-blank, widespread blast of fire mana that forces me back while I use my swords to absorb as much of the damage as possible.  This must be the attack she used with that fire shield, the one that melted the Woodcutter boss in the beginning.  

     And, as I found out, it is ridiculously intense.  The sword closest to the wave of fire glows brightly with an intense heat that forces me to drop it in pain.  Upon hitting the ground, it liquefies immediately, the molten gold splattering on the snow and hardening rapidly.

     My other sword survives, but only just.  I immediately absorb most of the contained energy, firing off a Flash Freeze.  

     Instead of the uber-dense cone of ice, though, I focus the blast.  It pierces right through the blast of fire, aimed directly at Morena.  She manages to jump out of the way in time, though.  It’s not a quick attack by any means, sadly.  The denser a magic attack is, the slower it tends to be, and this lies true for both of our elemental attacks.

    No longer in danger of losing my last usable sword, I back off again, realizing that she’s found a new strategy.

    I can absorb her fire attacks, sure, but it’s also possible to overwhelm them, and if she overtakes the rate of absorbance then she can successfully destroy them.

    And, though likely nearly exhausted, she has the mana to pull this off.  If she takes my second sword then I’ll be in serious trouble.

    I fire off three Ice Crescent Slashes, not expecting anything to come from them but wanting to shave off my excess energy.  Melee, as I suspected, is now dangerous.  Those high-density attacks that can so easily overtake the charge of the Scorch Blade are nearly impossible to dodge at point-blank range.

     Morena can’t have much energy left.  I’ve landed two decent hits on her, plus the energy she’s used in attacks, and the decay over time when it comes to using the Phoenix Magician form.  She can’t possibly have much left in her.  

     To be safe, though, I’ll definitely back away.  Range is surprisingly my friend here -- as long as I keep a good distance I can pick and choose what to absorb and dodge.  

     As an afterthought, I reform my Ice Armor.  It’s been a while since I’ve used it, but it comes to me without a second thought, proof of my growing mastery.  

     It’s different, now, considering that I want it to avoid lessening my enhanced speed and reflexes.  There’s only an extremely thin layer around my joints, so little that it offers only the slightest of protection, but it doesn’t restrict my movement.  There is denser armor around my chest and for the helmet covering my head.

      It’s not too heavy, but it will certainly protect me from shrapnel.  Hm...

      Ice Form is a bastardized version of the armor of Sylas, the Blizzard Magician.  Being coated in ice enhances my affinity towards it, but I can’t use any other element except ice, which can be a downside.  

      Combined with the Scorch Blades, it is the perfect counter to Morena’s Phoenix Magician.  Wasn’t what I had in mind when creating it, of course, but it’s a bonus.

      I can still use fire attacks from the stored energy that I capture, though, which was the original intent.  Fire’s strong against Earth and effectively counters Lightning, one of Ice’s major weaknesses.  

     Ice Form, really, is a way for me to supplement my strengths while giving me a few more options.  Rather niche, all things considered, but definitely worth having and maintaining.  

     Covered in my thin ice armor, I feel a tad bit more confident.  This way, at least, I will not need to waste time deflecting shrapnel.  

      A pretty decent drain on my mana, though.  It should be fine -- my reserves have increased tremendously over time as I practiced more and more with magic.  Nowhere near, say, Anna or Morena’s reserves, but respectable all the same.

      She darts forward again, covering the distance.  I absorb an intense fireball with the flat of my blade before using a point-blank Flash Freeze that she nearly runs into.

     Ice, in the end, has the potential to be denser than fire, and this is enough to make it an effective counter, so long as your attack is at least as strong.

     Her response, of course, is to retaliate with a blazingly-powerful Heat Wave that manages to negate the wall of ice.  Not overpower it, just negate it.

     The second wall of heat rolls in.  I swipe my blade through the mana for just a second before firing off another point-blank Ice Crescent Slash that she can’t immediately dodge, the diagonal blade of energy cutting her cheek.  It’s not deep and nothing like what I need, though I hesitate to try anything that I’m not confident she can dodge.

     I could’ve just as easily fired off a horizontal slash that, had this been a real fight, would have bisected her.  But...even though she can’t be hurt in this mock-fight, I diverted my attacks, anyways.

     It’s hard to purposely aim at a familiar figure.  

     I retreat to avoid the remnants of the Heat Wave, but too slow.  My blade glows white and I’m forced to drop it to save my hand.   

     It shouldn’t matter, the timing...if I time this right.  She’s within range, and I have enough mana.  

     I drop out of Ice Form, letting the armor dissolve into snowflakes as my hand finds its way to the other hilt on my waist and I dart forward, drawing my standard steel blade on the run.

     In a split second I’m on the other side of her, the sword in my hand glowing brightly, from the heat, and from the mana that powered the attack.

     Morena collapses, a thick pink line outlining what would have been a fatal bifurcation in a real fight.  

     My sword slides back into its sheath with a click.  

     “Flash Draw.”

     And then I faint, the reaction to being dragged from full mana to nearly nothing in a split second.  

 

    The blackout this time lasts only a few seconds, I think, because when I next open my eyes, I’m in the arms of a familiar brunette.

     “...Lindsey?”  I ask.  

     “Mmm.”  The girl in question pulls me up, and I quickly regain my balance, standing under my own power.  

      I have to resist going for my sword, armed with the knowledge I have.  

       _This girl could be a killer._

 _She could be trying to kill me_.

      Lindsey gives me a tentative smile.  “I’m...back.”

      It’s hard to correlate the two images, of the potential killer and the sweet, lonely girl.  Tch...

      _whatdoIdowhatdoIDO_

      “Welcome back.”  I tell her, then, slightly quieter, “I missed you.”  

      This seems to make her happy.  

      “Missed you too.”  Lindsey replies.  It isn’t exactly flippant, just...detached, like she’s trying not to feel too attached.

      I’m not sure how to feel about that.  

      The conversation lulls into a semi-awkward silence.  If she notices my hesitation, then she doesn’t say anything about it.  I can see a conflicted look on her face, as if she’s coming to some kind of decision...

       “What happened here?”  She asks, looking around.  Anna’s conscious, though clearly dazed.  Morena’s still lying in the snow.  Ilya...

       Ilya’s picking up Morena and walking back towards the inn that we’ve rented.  Bless her heart.

      “A practice duel got out of hand.”  I say, truthfully.  

      “Looks like a warzone.”  Well...it kind of does.  There are quite a few smoking holes in the ground from Morena’s runaway fireballs, scorched ground wherever Heat Waves appeared, and out-of-place ice amongst all the snow from all of my own elemental attacks everywhere.

      “It was fun.”  Exploring her past, huh?  That’s what she said she was doing.  I wonder if she was really...

      “Hey, Tyler.  Can I show you something?”  

   _Is this it?_

      “Alright.”  

    _She’s had lots of chances to kill me, if that was her goal._

      “Great.”  Lindsey pulls out a light blue crystal.  I vaguely recognize it...

      It’s a teleport crystal.  Takes you to a predetermined warp gate, as long as you have visited it before.  There are gates in every single major city...

      Wherever we’re going...it’ll probably be far.

      And there’s no safezone...anywhere.  

   _Is this the end?_

      She grabs my hand.  I don’t resist as the tug of teleportation pulls us both away.

   _I...trust you, Lindsey. **  
**_


	27. High Note C

     This place...

     “The first floor metropolis?”  I ask, perplexed.  “How did you...”

     “Don’t worry, I have a teleport crystal back, so we don’t need to run to the elevator.”  The major warp gate that teleports people between floors.  It’s a necessity.  With fifty large floors, scaling them one at a time would be weeks of work.  

     “Okay.  What did you want to show me?”  I’ve relaxed...slightly.  

     “It’s a short run in, we have to go downtown.”  Lindsey says, tugging my hand, and I realize that she still hasn’t let go of it.  “Come on!”  

     She pulls me along, running, and I stumble once before regaining my balance, sprinting to keep up with her.  She’s gotten faster, much faster, and a bit stronger, too.  Huh.  

      This brings back memories, of running through empty streets, though I was quite a bit younger back then.  And shorter.  And the girl had blonde hair, instead of chocolate brown.

      But they have the same smile, the same inherent shyness.  The same cautiousness.

      My reminiscing lasts us until we reach a familiar destination, one I didn’t think I would ever see again.

      I don’t know if I wanted to see it again.

      “The...swings.”  I say, cautiously.  Lindsey, sensing my mood, drops my hand.

      “Yeah.  I...lied when I told you I was going to find my past.  I wanted to see if I could find yours, because...”  Her gaze wanders.  “You speak of Lily so fondly, so I wanted to see if I could find something of hers for you...”

      “You didn’t need to do this...”  I say, hesitantly, but I’m already walking towards the swing as if in a trance.

      “I wanted to.”  The brunette says, smiling shyly.  My hand runs along the chains of the swing, still new despite the passage of time.

      Nothing ever seems to wear down in this world.  The only thing permanent is death.

      “You.”  A voice says, vaguely familiar and somewhat muffled.  Lindsey and I around, our swords drawn before I can register anything.

      It doesn’t matter.  The words aren’t directed at me.  

      Next to me, Lindsey stiffens.  “You.”  She responds, acid in her voice.  She flicks her left hand out, a knife appearing in it.  

      “Ilya?  Lindsey?  You two know each o-”  I stop.  “Never mind.”

       Of course they know each other.  It was the same organization they worked in, after all.  What’s Ilya doing here, though?

       “I came to warn you, Tyler.”  Ilya says, turning her attention to me.  “The group I worked for -- she’s one of them.”  Lindsey flinches.

       That’s all the proof I need.

       “I--”  Lindsey begins, but is cut off abruptly.

       We’re surrounded by NPC mercenaries.  Just like in the cave, except we’re on a slightly raised platform with a swing.  Both girls notice this at the same time, Lindsey audibly gasping.

       There must be hundreds of them.  

       And I recognize the style.

       Quickly, ideas whirl in my head, thoughts connect to form a single working theory.

       “You sent--”  Ilya begins to accuse, but Lindsey shakes her head frantically.  

      “This wasn’t her.”  I step in, to defend her, irrationally.  “Tell me, Ilya, would a Blake happen to be your leader?”  It makes sense now, the way he talked about superiority even way back when.  His cowardly tactics.

      But...he should be dead.  Unless--

       _Don’t tell me he got away._

      “Yes.  How did you know?”  Ilya confirms.  I curse.

      “Intuition.  Lindsey, do you have that teleport crystal?”  

     _She should have told me, if she wasn’t with THEM._

      Everything.  Everything she’s ever said or done is now suspect.  But there’s a more present threat to worry about, and I will deal with that first.  

      Quietly, Lindsey passes over the blue crystal.  I take it with my free hand, studying it.

      It takes a small burst of mana to activate, as does any crystal.  The person putting in the mana envisions the gate that they’re trying to head to.  No verbal confirmation needed.  

      But it’s only so powerful.  It can only take two people.

       I see.

       I step forward and hand the crystal to Ilya.  “Take Lindsey and go.  Now.”

       She doesn’t protest, to my relief.  Perhaps she sees the determination in my eyes.

       The brunette herself, on the other hand...  “No, Tyler, wai-”  Ilya grabs her hand and they both disappear in a flash of blue.

       It’s so much easier not to feel.  

       Hatred is the one true driver.

       “Time to make it rain.”  I say, as I let the darkness flood my body, the True Battle Trance kicking in rapidly.  

     

       Ten, twenty, a hundred, a thousand...it doesn’t make a difference.

       Nothing can ever get past me, so long as I’m in this zone.  Nothing.

       Not when I’m like this, with ice surrounding me and ultra-dense ice blades giving me the freedom of pure, unadulterated speed.

       I’ve mastered it.  Ice Transformation.  It’s taken a while...but I’ve got it.  

       The lightest slash from my ice-infused blade leaves frozen spots that spread over time.  Left untreated, they are frozen solid.

       And my blades are everywhere.  In my hands, two ice swords.  Attached to the soles of my shoes, two ice skates.

       My reflexes are ultrasensitive, helping me dodge attacks before they’re ever started, let alone arrive.  I dart like a bullet, leaving behind frozen bodies as grotesque artwork.

       And I am a professional artist.  

**  
  
**

      Three hundred twenty five.  

      That’s how many kills I made.  They weren’t real people, just NPCs.  

      325 vs. 1.  

      Five minutes.  That’s roughly how long it took for the last body to fall.  Just under a second per kill.  

      Ice Crescent Slashes sped things up dramatically, cutting through dozens at a time before I abandoned the magic and dived in, whirling and spinning, throwing rapid overhead kicks to slash throats, using rapid slashes and stabs to tear through the wall of bodies, jumping around and over.

      They don’t ever grow more skilled.  Compared to back when I was eight, this was child’s play.

       And I am not a child.  

**  
  
**

      I teleport back into the third’s floor village, having paused in the Metropolis only long enough to get new swords and the necessary crystal before disappearing.

      The first person I meet on the way is Anna, running along the sidewalk as if looking for something, and she doesn’t look...

      “Tyler.  Morena’s been kidnapped.”

      ...good.

      Things are falling apart, aren’t they?  Is this some kind of karma backlash?

      “Anything?  Any leads?”  I ask.

      This isn’t good.  Everything’s changing.  I can’t...analyzation is not my strong suit.  Anna.  She should know what to do.

      “It’s Blake.  He wants you, Ilya, and Lindsey to go.  This is...this is like before, isn’t it?”  

       It doesn’t take a written 7 in intelligence to know what that means.

       “Yes.  He’s going to kill her, then Ilya and I.  Lindsey is...”  By the despair that flashes across her face, Anna knows what I’m not saying.

      “Can we still trust her?”  Anna asks, almost pleadingly.  There’s genuine hurt in her eyes when I silently shake my head no.

      “Damnit...damnit, damnit!”  She turns around and runs away in the direction of our inn.  I follow, the exhaustion of the True Battle Trance finally catching up to me.

       _This is not the time._

       I force my exhaustion to the corners of my mind and quicken my pace.

       Ilya intercepts me.  

       “Are you going after Morena?”  She asks.  Her aloof personality appears to have been a lie -- the passion driving her words seem to be very real.

       “Of course.”  She doesn’t seem surprised by the fact that I survived the ambush.  It’s somewhat disorienting.  I’m not sure whether to be flattered that she had so much confidence in me or worried about her indifference.

       “She’ll get you killed, you know.”  

       “Anna?”  I ask, confusedly.  That would definitely shock me.

       “No.  Lindsey.  If you take her, you’re going to get backstabbed.  I’m warning you.”  

       My lingering feelings for the brunette are thrown into turmoil, once more.

       “How do you know that?”  I ask, somewhat confrontationally.  She only looks amused.

       “Because it’s her mission, of course.”  

     That...changes things...

     “She’s very close to him.  Blake.  You think she kills -- or tries to -- willingly?  Of course not.  She’s doing this because he told her to.”  My blood runs cold.

     “Why.”  It’s a statement.  Not a question.

     “Because she loves him.”  Those words are spit out without feeling, contemptuous, mocking Lindsey’s supposed feelings for Blake.  

      I concur with the sentiment.

      “How do you know this?”  I ask.

      She looks me in the eyes this time, and I am surprised by the hardness in them.

      “Because we were partners.”

 

 

     The next person I run into is Lindsey.  Just the person I’m looking for --

      Anna beats me to the punch, lunging in from her blindspot and tackling her.

      I wince as the brunette’s head slams into the wall, Anna’s hands pinning her down by her throat.

      “Where is she?”  The redhead’s voice is low and dangerous.  Too emotional...

      “I...don’t -- know!”  Lindsey gasps out, trembling.

      “Don’t lie.”  Anna growls, tightening her grip.

      “Stop, Anna.  She doesn’t know.”  I intercede, as Lindsey chokes.

      “Tch.”  Anna curses under her breath before whirling around and fleeing into her room, the door slamming shut a second later.  The brunette collapses to her knees, gasping for air.

      Sorry.  No sympathy coming from me.  Especially because...

      “You knew, didn’t you?”  I ask, icily.  “That they were coming.  That’s why you distracted me, took me to a different area so that I wouldn’t be there to protect her.”  She doesn’t respond.  She can’t.  Everything I’m saying is true.

      “Maybe you didn’t personally see the ambush through, both of them, but one thing’s certain.  We can’t trust you.  Not anymore.  After this mess is over...you can’t be in the party.”

      Lindsey flinches, visibly.

      “If you even want to try to redeem yourself...then help Ilya and I save Morena.  Abandon your past allegiances, your mission...and save the life of someone who considers you a friend.”  I turn my back and her and walk off to a different room.

       And if my sensory awareness catches the beginnings of a choked sob coming from her throat, I ignore it.

        No matter how much it hurts.

       

   

       “We’re here.”  Ilya notes idly.  I grit my teeth.  It’s happening again.  There’s no way this location was a coincidence.

       Different floor, same caves.  Different girl, same relationship.  Sort of.

       Lindsey’s completely subdued for once, listless.  Why?  Is she bothered I don’t trust her anymore?  What did she expect?  Morena may die because of her actions.

       And if I had been less of a fighter, then I would have definitely died in that ambush, too.  She’s been leading me on this whole time.  

       I’m an idiot.  

       Without a word, I run in, the two girls trailing me from behind.

       _I wanted to like you, Lindsey.  But this...this is unforgivable._

       It’s so much easier not to feel...

       Ilya catches up to me, quickly.  I glance at her quizzically, but she just gives me a cryptic smile and nothing more.

       “You seem remarkably eager.”  I say quietly.  

       “I couldn’t stop them from taking her then.  If I can do something to get her back, then I’ll do it.  She’s pretty much your little sister, isn’t she?  Not biological, but...losing a sibling hurts.  You saved me...so I’ll return the favor.”  

       Ilya fought remarkably well, according to Anna, who was so exhausted at the time that all she could do was watch.  There were too many players there, though.

       It does give us a good idea of what we’re dealing with.  So many people...

       Ilya was right about them attempting to kill her.  Even after they had the unconscious Morena as a hostage, they still left five people to take her down.

       _“She’s incredibly skilled.”_  Anna confided to me. _“And...she seems to have some kind of True Battle Trance, but it’s not like yours.  She didn’t lose her mind when she activated it, but her reflexes were inhumane.”_

       “And according to Anna, you’ve been holding back in the practice duels.”  Ilya shrugs.

       “Didn’t want to go all out.”  Fair enough.  Makes me wonder if she held back in our fight, too, though there wouldn’t have been any reason to.

      She’s back to being aloof, though I can still clearly see the passion burning in those normally blank eyes of hers.  

       Interesting.

       I glance at Lindsey, but can’t see her eyes at this distance in the low light of the cave.  Her energetic presence is completely gone, though.  Her movements seem forced, like she’s running on autopilot.

       I don’t understand...why?  Why is she affected by this at all?

      We step into the open cavern, and Lindsey becomes the least of my worries.

**  
  
**

      It takes me two seconds to cross the two-dozen meters separating me from Morena.  Ilya follows, guarding my back as I kneel down next to the fallen girl.  

      “Who-”  The brunette’s face scrunches up in pain.  I frown, noting the red marks all along her arms and legs.  “Nn.”  

      “You’re hurt.”  Stating the obvious makes me feel better, marginally, as my fingers brush a bruise on her cheek.  She flinches away from the touch.

      I stare at her in bemusement before I meet her eyes, visible in the bright light provided by the torches.

     Dazed.  Confused.

    No.  NO!

    “Who...who are you?”  She asks kindly.  

    Behind me, Lindsey gasps.  I see.

    She’s an Assassin, isn’t she?  Capable of brewing poison.  Is it so far-fetched that a good enough brewer, given the correct materials...could come up with something to destroy memory?

    “This was your poison, wasn’t it?  Lindsey.”  Ilya asks her ex-partner.  

    “I...he wasn’t supposed to...”  I shoot a dark glare at her, projecting all my anger in her direction.

    “Disgusting.”  I spit out.  She takes an unconscious step backwards, breaking her gaze in favor of staring at the floor.

     Maybe her so-called emotions are just acts, too.  I can’t trust anything.  Anything, damnit.

    “How could you create something so horrible...?”  I whisper, just loud enough for her to hear.  “To wake up and be surrounded by the people you care about without even knowing who they are?  Why?  Why?  WHY?”  My voice steadily rises in volume until I’m shouting at her, even Ilya giving me an alarmed look.

     Lindsey flinches with every exclamation, seeming to curl into herself.

     “It...It...”  Whatever excuse she’s trying to make, she can’t seem to get it out over her tears and shaking.  Water drops splash against the ground in front of her, physical proof...but yet, easily acted.

     “Poison?”  The memory-wiped Morena asks, apparently choosing to ignore my anger.  “Am I going to die?”  I guess she’s decided that I’m friendly enough, though she sends inquisitive looks to the girls, as well.

     “Not if I can help it.”  I say, gently taking a hold of her arm.  “Here, stand up.  Because soon...”

     “Now do you know what it feels like?”  A male’s voice, disgustingly familiar and expected both.  I turn, releasing my grip on the brunette’s arm.  At the sound of his voice, Morena’s eyes widen in panic before she hides behind me.

     “I see you haven’t grown any less cowardly.”  I spit out.  “Makes sense, since I severed what made you a man, didn’t I?”  

     The black-haired man’s face contorts as he spits in my general direction.  “You were lucky that day, kid.”  A dozen players, cloaked in black with white masks, file in through the only entrance.

      “And I suppose it was luck that I nailed you to the wall in our next confrontation with your own sword after taking you down in, what was it?  A hundred versus one?  I was eight that day, and you were still kicked around like dirt.”  Ilya snorts slightly as Blake fumes, the group behind him snickering.

      “Even if I went down that day, it would have been worth it.  Had plenty of time to enjoy that girl...what was her name?  Lily?  Oh, yes, that was-”

      Ilya slaps my hand as I go for my sheath.  “Not yet!”  She whispers urgently to me.  “We need to know his demands!”  

      The action draws Blake’s attention.  “Ah, Ilya.  I see you’ve decided to bat for the other team?”  She doesn’t rise in indignation at the implied meaning.  I didn’t expect her to.

      “Yes, hitting you back and forth during training matches was becoming exceedingly boring, so I decided to join the side that could give me an actual fight.”  More snickers from Blake’s apparent supporters.  He seems more irritated at the support Ilya’s quietly gaining over the insult itself.

     “Fighting is for brainless idiots.  I am smart and opportunistic-”

     “ -- because challenging and then losing a duel to an eight-year old kid is smart and opportunistic.”  I butt in, earning laughter and a few whistles.

     “Sarcasm is for the weak.”  He quotes, from one of the more popular books in the library.

     “Quotes are for the unoriginal.”  I fire back.  “And heaven knows you need to get a new routine.  How many girls have you targeted because you were too weak to fight someone capable of fighting back?”

      “Hey!”  Ilya interjects.  I glare at her.

      “It’s always the same damn deal with you -- get overconfident, hide behind people to do your work, kidnap the defenseless ones, hold them for ransom.  Coward.”  I’ve, of course, only seen this play out twice, but this clearly is something that strikes a chord with his followers, if the murmurs are of any indication.

       Blake notices this too, and puts a stop to it quickly with a simple, “Remember who pays you.”  

      I snort.  Cheap labor force.  

     His gaze turns to the third member of my group.  “Ah, Lindsey.  Care to join us?”   She looks conflicted, glancing back and forth between us.

     I don’t say anything.  Ilya glances once at me before following my example.

     As I expected, she finally makes her decision and walks towards the other group.  Interestingly enough, no one from Blake’s side comes up with any sarcastic greeting, or any at all, like I would expect.

     “He makes them behave when it comes to her.”  Ilya murmurs from the side of her mouth.  “You don’t listen and you’re out, with people coming to take you down.  They’ll do anything for a pay raise, and he has all the money in the world to hand out.”  

     “I see.”  I mutter back, not enthused by this latest news.  It means I probably can’t bribe them or manipulate them into leaving him.  Lindsey comes to a stop in front of Blake.

     “My apologies.  I failed.”  Lindsey bows her head.  For a second I consider whipping out a throwing knife and sinking it into her back.

     “Do not fret.  We’re here now, and you succeeded in your other missions, so there is no harm done.”  His voice tone has changed to be sickeningly sweet.  

      “He’s playing her.”  I say in an undertone.  Ilya nods.

      “Of course.  And she’s eating it up.”  

     You’re not truly that stupid, are you, Lindsey?  What’s going on?

     “Something about it doesn’t feel right.”  I decide, before deciding to stir the pot.

     “He’s playing you, Lindsey.”  I say, audibly, enough for everyone in the chamber to hear.  

     “Yeah.”  To my surprise, Morena speaks up for the first time, floating out from behind me.  “Can’t you see it?  His tone...that’s not sincere.  He’s not being sincere at all.  Anything he’s saying to you, whatever leash you’re on...stop!  He’s a liar!”

      “He wouldn’t do that.  He wouldn’t lead me on.”  Lindsey replies, completely calm.  

      Morena appears to want to object, but I shake my head.  “No point.  She’s completely deluded.”  I mutter to her.

      I don’t understand.  Is it love that makes her deaf to what is obvious to everyone else?  That is scary on a whole different level.

      “But...Blake.”  Lindsey asks, looking up.  “I thought you said my memory serum would be used for an unrelated project.  That’s why I gave it to you.  I don’t...I didn’t want it to be used on my friends.  Why did you do that?”  

       So...the memory serum wasn’t created with the intent of targeting Morena.  At least, not the second time.  

       “The answer to that is obvious, Lindsey.  They’re not your real friends.  I’m your only friend.  You just pretended to be their friend as part of your mission, but you’re not really.”  

       What?  What’s happening?  I don’t understand this dialogue...but something important is being said.  But what?

       “But...they said...”  Her weak protests are shut down by Blake.

       “They were lying.  They just wanted to use you as a means to an end.  That’s not friendship.”  He soothes.

      I have had enough of this crap.

      “Hypocrisy suits you, Blake.  It really does.”  My hands are shaking.  

      My words are ignored in favor of the growing conflict.

      “But why did you use it on Morena?  She’s just a girl...”  Lindsey trails off.

      “She’s the Phoenix Magician, remember?  She’s the one who destroyed my home and killed my family.  I showed you the site, remember?”  That bastard.

      “But...Tyler said he was the one who did that.”  The brunette protests.

       “Well, then.  He was lying.  Probably just wanted to seek fame.  He’s like that.”  My fists clench tight as Ilya puts a hand on my shoulder, warning me.

       “But...that can’t be right.  He’s not like that.”  Lindsey says, quietly.

       Ilya steps in.  “Enough with the ridiculous acting, Blake.  What do you want?”  

       Blake turns to look at us, ignoring Lindsey’s arguments.  “You two need to die, and, from you, my lovely Morena, I’ll need the Phoenix Crystal.”

       He wants Morena’s power source, the item that makes her the Phoenix Magician.  I see.  Power.  He wants cheap power.

       Forgot one thing though.  Literally.

       Morena tilts her head, smilingly disarmingly.  “What’s that?”

       

       Three whole seconds pass before Blake’s gang doubles into laughter.

       Even Ilya looks amused.  “Did he forget that Morena needs to be of sound mind to give it up?  It isn’t a simple item, you know, it’s fused with her, and if she doesn’t know how to get it, then he can’t take it.”  And he wiped Morena’s memory, so now she can’t.  She can’t ever retrieve it.

       He curses.

       “Fine.  Then you’re all of no use to me.”  He snaps his fingers.  “You twelve, go take down Ilya.  She’s strong, but you twelve were picked to counter her.  Leave Morena alone, I may as well use her for experiments, but don’t let her run.  And...”

      A wicked smile adorns his face.  “Lindsey, it’s time to finish your primary mission.  Take down Tyler.”  

      Lindsey hesitates.

      “But...”

      “I’m not surprised.”  I say, stepping forward and neatly drawing both swords.  “I knew, from the second I realized Blake was a part of this, that this would happen.  That you would need to make a choice.  Me or him.”

      Ilya breaks away, darting to the other side of the chamber, presumably to avoid drawing fire to me.  The dozen quickly draw their weapons and pursue.

      “You’ve already made your choice, haven’t you, Lindsey?”  Another step forward as she flinches.  “Then...come on and fight me.”  

      “Alright.”  In an instant, there is a rapier and a knife in her hand.  “I’ll take you down if it’s the last thing I do!”   

      I grin, ferally.  “No mercy.  Come!”

     Then we sprint forward, blades clashing a moment later.

**The real fight has begun.  
**


	28. Pillars of Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is told entirely in Lindsey's POV.
> 
> There is a disturbing implication during the flashback scene, written entirely in italics. T rating goes into effect now.

 

     The hate in his eyes scares me.  Terrifies me.  

     I’ve never been looked at quite like that before, or maybe I have.  I don’t know.  I do my best to shut those kinds of things out, to forget, because to linger on those memories only brings more hurt.

     What are you thinking right now, Tyler?  Do you think I led you on?  Used you?  Manipulated you?  I didn’t want to.  Because...even if Blake said it, I still think you were my friend.

      I still want to be your friend, but I don’t think you want that.  I don’t blame you, don’t want you to take back the words you said, because I deserved them, didn’t I?  

     For every action, there are consequences, and I’ll take whatever comes with a smile on my face.

     “Smiling, Lindsey?  Why?”  Tyler asks, his onyx eyes giving nothing away but a continual burning anger.  His left-hand blade cuts my cheek, but he pays for his overextension with a ripped sleeve.

     “Because--”  I pause to dodge and stab at his exposed torso.  He blocks, retaliating with a pair of slashes.  “Nothing.”  

     Is it weird that I feel free fighting?  Assuming I survive this, the repercussions of what I’ve done today, and all those other days are still going to be there for me to deal with, and I doubt I’ll take it well at all.  

    But right now, in the heat of battle, I can forget those things.  

    The phrase “losing myself” has never fit so well before.

    He pirouettes with a roundhouse kick, and I almost get slashed by the ice blade that seems to have appeared out of nowhere, attached to the bottom of his foot.  Not expecting the extra range, he tags me across the my left knee as I leap away with the lightest nick, not even enough to draw blood.  

    He’s learned something new?  I have, too.  

    My thrown dagger spins towards his head as I swipe downward and pull three poisoned needles from my pouch, throwing them one after the other.

    He blocks the dagger and manages to dodge two of the needles, but the third one hits him in the stomach.  He pulls it out, rapidly, but the damage has been done.

    “I win.  It only takes a few minutes for the sleeping poison to go into effect.”  I say, victorious.  He shrugs.  

    “Guess I have to beat you before that happens, huh?”  He says, calmly...and then his presence grows darker.

    I’ve trained to fight him.  I can do this.  

    He must have activated his True Battle Trance.  I can feel it.  He darts forward again -- fast! -- and I elect to dodge rather than let my ice-covered rapier take the hit.  

    Our clash of swords begins anew.  If he wants to accelerate the spread of my toxin by moving around, hence increasing his blood flow, it only makes my job easier.

    “Why sleeping, Lindsey?  Why not just keep it fatal?”  He growls out.  Weird, he shouldn’t be able to ask those kinds of questions if he’s under the True Battle Trance...

    “I don’t like to kill people.”  I reply, truthfully.  Why would I?  I don’t want to hurt people.  But I have to...so I try to do it in the most humane ways possible.  I didn’t create that memory serum to hurt...

    “Ah, right.  You reserve that honor for your so-called friends, don’t you?”  He snarks.  I wince.

     “Why haven’t you started using your True Battle Trance yet?”  I ask Tyler, inquisitive, even as I parry a series of blows aiming to take my head off before slashing forward, sending him sliding back.  It’s obvious he isn’t now.  He shouldn’t be talking, if he were.

     He doesn’t answer at first.

     “I don’t need it.”  He finally says, but it isn’t in a cocky manner like one would expect.  There’s a very...odd expression on his face, one that I can’t place right away.

     I dance around a deadly crescent of energy, my blade sliding against an icy gauntlet on his forearm before pulling back, waiting for his next attack.

     It’s then I figure it out.

     “Why are you holding back?”  I frown.  Reluctance.

_He doesn’t WANT to fight me?_

     “I’m not.”  He replies, cutting at my head.

     “Yes, you are.  Or you would already be deep inside of your True Battle Trance.”  I respond.  “And don’t give me that crap about taking down Ilya with you.  She’s stronger than both of us.”

      “No, she isn’t.”  Tyler says, matter-of-factly.  “I beat her.”

      “She wasn’t truly trying, or you would have lost.  She’s in a league of her own.”  I reply.  It’s true.  Blake refused to partner me with anyone but the best, and had Ilya work with me.  I don’t like her, and the feeling is mutual...but I have to respect her skill.

      “And why should I believe you?”  He fires back.  “It’s not like anything you’ve told me so far is actually true.”  

      That hurts, Tyler.  I...when I opened up to you, those weren’t lies!  I really wanted to be your friend, after I failed my primary mission and you showed me such unexpected kindness.  I buried it at first under simply paying you back for that Healing Potion...but I realized, after that first boss fight, that I wanted to protect you, too.  Or I wouldn’t have risked my life stepping in for that axe attack...

      “Because she’s mastered the True Battle Trance completely.”  His momentary surprise gives me a good opening, and my lunging slash cuts into his left arm somewhat deeply.

      It winds up not mattering, as he starts healing it anyways while backing off rapidly.  

      I don’t pursue, wiping at my forehead.  It’s cold...but, then again, according to Anna, he HAS been focusing on the ice element more and more recently.  Anna isn’t part of the organization, of course -- I just asked some questions under a friendly guise and she was more than happy to answer.

    Perhaps this is an aura of some kind.  My own mastery of ice should give me significant resistance, though.

    He throws a sword at me and uses the distraction to quickly snap up a brown Mana Potion, popping off the cap.  I block, then rush to intercept and force him to slide his thumb over the opening and block with his right hand, kicking out at me to force me to dodge.  The brief moment of respite is enough for him to down it, though, and he follows up with a super-dense wave of ice that forces me back rapidly further, enough to get a Healing Crystal smashed under his hand.

     While he heals up (I’m still at nearly topped reserves) I glance around the room, looking on at my teammates.  The strategy to fight Ilya seems to be working well, as they have her pinned down and surrounded.  She can’t use her chakrams without the time to bring them in, and can’t run away invisible while being attacked...which they do with ease.  They can’t seem to bring her down, though.  I wonder if she’s set into the Refined Battle Trance, yet...

      The ice wave blocking me from Tyler settles down, but he isn’t there.

      I spin around and block a double slash.  It seems that Tyler has reclaimed his thrown sword.  How careless of me.  Ducking under a careless backswing, I stab at him, but he’s already moving to dodge.

      “Why are you still conscious?”  I ask.  It makes no sense.  He should already be asleep.  I wouldn’t kill him, though, just prick him with a second needle to make sure he stays unconscious for a while and move on to help the dozen take down Ilya.  

      “Fancy parlor tricks don’t work on me.”  He responds, nearly arrogantly.  I frown before dodging inwards, kicking him in the stomach.

      Instead of soft skin, I meet hard ice.

      “Armo-”  Tyler doesn’t let me finish, his knee coming up into my stomach and knocking me away, stealing my breath.

      It hurts, but I steel myself against the pain and slip into the Battle Trance as I roll, getting to my feet.  My left leg is a little stiff.  

      Hopefully, the Battle Trance should make up the difference.  I haven’t just started learning it, like I pretended to while with Tyler.  I’ve been a master since twelve.  It isn’t something he should know, though.  Maybe this will give me the upper hand I need.  As things are, it’s a stalemate.  

      He suddenly dances back a few feet before throwing his sword, almost like a javelin.  I don’t even need to dodge, though, as it goes wide.

     But Tyler wouldn’t miss that badly, would he?

     Of course not.  The blade stabs into one of the unprotected backs of the dozen harassing Ilya, and he goes down, shattering into shards a second later.  This disruption causes enough turmoil to where, amidst the frantic calls of Blake to “stay organized!” and “remember the plan!”, Ilya breaks free of the circle and goes on the offensive, firing off deadly projectiles and slashing in that precise style of hers.

      “That was cheap!  He wasn’t even paying attention!”  I gasp, revolted, as he slashes at me.  “How could you kill someone who wasn’t even paying attention?”  He shakes his head.

       “Was I supposed to let them kill Ilya?  Do you suppose he would have hesitated to do the same in my position?  I don’t feel remorse for killing the guilty, Lindsey.”  A slight pang of hurt, as he uses my full name again, rather than the comfortable and friendly nickname that he used to use.  

       He only has one sword though, now...and as time has proven again and again, he can’t beat me in my style.  All I have to do is stop him from drawing another blade.

       This much is simple.  I sprint forward, closing the gap nearly instantly to begin a frantic combination of slashes and stabs, tailored to abuse his blindspots.  

       Like our first fight, he closes his eyes again, relying on his Tracker sight to keep him alive.  I pull out a needle in the middle of a spin and hurl it at his face in the same movement, but he catches it with a smile and hurls it past me.

       As I watch, with no time to call out a warning, it sinks into Blake’s neck and he stumbles forward, pulling out the needle, but the toxin is already taking effect.  

       “You-”  I lose it.  No one hurts my friend.

  _Even if you are my friend..._

      He deflects my slashes, opening his eyes again as he lunges forward and grabs me by the  throat as I overextend myself.  

      In desperation, I slam my right knee into his exposed torso, but he’s somehow grown ice armor underneath his clothing and it is enough to block the majority of the force.  His hand tightens, immediately cutting off my oxygen supply as I panic, aiming lower.

      He predicts it and blocks with his own knee, his foot slamming down on mine as spots form in my vision.  

      I...lost...

      But, no, rather than suffocate me, he lets go, shoving me backward as I stumble, falling onto my butt.  In a flash he’s straddling me, hitting my right wrist hard enough to force me to drop my rapier, his left hand over the center of my chest.

      I stare up at him, into his eyes.  In my gaze I try my best to express my apologies.  There’s so much to be sorry for...I can’t list them all, Tyler, but I do hope that you find it in your heart to forgive me.  I’m so sorry.

      His right hand follows, and then mana pierces me, and the last thing I remember is a faint shattering sound.


	29. Journey's End?

    I stand up from the end of our fight, breathing heavily.

    That last attack was all-or-nothing, but...it’s over now.  I swallow a Mana Potion, sighing as the potion flows through my veins.  It’s over.  It’s really over.

    Not quite, though -- Ilya’s still fighting, but as she’s now evened the odds to 9-1, I’d say she can maintain it for a little more.  She’s really something...

    And she’s mastered the True Battle Trance, has she?  That’s something I need to look into.  

    But there’s something I need to do before that.  If I don’t, everything here will be a waste.  All the fighting...the betrayal...everything will be pointless.

   I locate Blake’s body.  He’s unconscious, now, from Lindsey’s poisoned needle.  

   Fitting, I think, to have been dropped by Lindsey’s weapon.  A far more peaceful end than he deserves.  

   With a quick slash, I take his head from his body, watching the crystal shards disappear.  There.  Now all that’s left is to wrap up the remainder of the fight.

    I jump in, quickly, taking two down before they’re even aware I’m there with quick stabs to the neck.  The third must be a Tracker, as he’s already turning around...but, unfortunately for him, he uses a bow, not a sword, and it is child’s play to stab him in the chest and kick him away, already looking for my next target.

    With the odds evened further, Ilya manages to take down another fighter, and I temporarily retreat, looking around for Morena.

    A twang as I spin around, sword moving to deflect the arrow aimed at my back -- I’m not going to make it in time -- but someone’s already there, the arrow stabbing into her chest as she intercepts with her body.

   “Moren-”  The archer I thought I killed earlier is there, lining up another shot, and I hurl my sword with such force as to rip straight through him.  “Morena!”  

   The brunette mouths something -- “Thank you.” -- before closing her eyes as her body shatters in front of me.

   Why?

   Why did she...?

   Why...?  

**  
**

   A sharp blow to my head sends me to the ground.  Ilya stands above me as I stare at her.

   “You can’t win using hate, Tyler.”  It’s at that point I realize that I was in a True Battle Trance so deep that I completely and utterly lost myself.

   “Sorry.”  That hit must have knocked me back into my senses.  I sit up, looking at my clothes.

   They’re covered in blood.  Guess we won.

   “You need to learn how to control that, Tyler.”  Ilya says quietly, clinically.  I stare at her.  

    I see.  She looks cold on the outside, but I can tell she’s repressing her emotions just as much as I -- was.

    Understanding that, I nod.  She looks to where I fought Lindsey, the other side of the room.

    “You...killed her?”  She asks.

    “Yeah.”  I sheath my swords.  “There wasn’t any other choice.”  Ilya frowns.

    “I didn’t like her, but...she wasn’t evil.  If any of them deserved to walk away from this, it was her.”  The black-haired girl sighs.  “We’ll never know now, I guess.”  I manage to get out some kind of affirmative.

    As we walk out of the cave, I open my inventory and pull out a little blue ice crystal, warm to the touch.  

    I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, Morena.  But I promise I’ll never forget you.

    Thank you, for everything.

**  
**

    When Anna hears the news, she falls into my arms and cries on my shoulder.  I hold her tightly, realizing that I need the comfort as much as she does.

    “Do you hate her?”  I ask.

    “Lindsey?”  Anna confirms, sniffling.  I nod.

    “No.  I can’t.  Even if she was pretending to be my friend...I was hers.”  I squeeze her tightly.

    “From what I could tell during the confrontation, she wasn’t pretending.”  This seems to make her cry harder.

    The third boss falls with ease, revealing Morena’s successor.

    “You knew?”  I ask Anna.  She nods, pulling up a golden necklace that I hadn’t recognized before.  Attached to it is a pure white crystal.  

    “She told me that I would be better suited for this, because she had her own special magic to protect her.  We didn’t think that...what happened would happen.”  The necklace disappears, but I can still sense it.

    The Phoenix Crystal.  Morena passed it on to Anna before she went off on her journey, way back at the second floor.  Her manifestation of it during her boss fight was likely the last remnants of her power.  No wonder I was able to defeat her, even in my Ice Form.  Those were just fragments of her true ability...doubtless, had she been at full strength, my Scorch Blades would have been melted right off the bat.  

    “Ah.”  Anna powers down from her Phoenix Magician form, turning away to look at the newly opened floor.  Not quick enough to hide the tears that form, though.

**  
**

   Krona, Phoenix, Tony, and Raffy meet up with us as we scale the staircase to the fourth floor, a futuristic floor with metal and neon lighting everywhere.

    “And so things come full circle.”  I whisper to myself.  How ironic that we’re here now, minus two.

    When we tell them the news, Raffy struggles to avoid crying.  Krona just clenches her fists.  

    No one blames me, though.  Even though it was entirely my fault.

**  
**

    A good week passes before I excuse myself from dinner, warn Ilya that I’ll be gone for a day, and disappear, running back to the magical elevator.  

    I reappear in the First Floor dungeon, startling a group of males, but I pay little attention to them, continuing to run.  

    This is where I met Morena and Krona.

     I’m sorry, Morena.  I could have saved you.

     I had to make a decision, though, and in my split second of indecision, I lost her.

     Because to save one, I had to sacrifice the other.  

     No one will know that her blood is on my hands.

 

   It takes a few hours of running before I slow down, back in the winter forest.

   This is where I met Lindsey in a violent confrontation, where she tried to kill me.  

   If fire can wound, ice can heal.  

   I kneel down in the snow, focusing on her.

   The girl that I never truly killed.  I couldn’t bring myself to kill her, because she was never truly guilty.  That’s the reason I tell myself, but I know that, despite everything, I cared for her far too much to really bring harm to her.  So I took my only alternative.  She isn’t dead...just in stasis.  So I hope.  I have never tried to do this before.  I hope I never will again.

    The exact mana that I absorbed -- of a flash-frozen Lindsey...exits my fingers and reforms into that ice statue, the same one I absorbed way back when, taking in everything.  Whereas I unfroze Ilya by taking away only my mana, after freezing Lindsey, I took everything, both of our combined energies.

     And that same energy is there in front of me.

     I recall her face, her vibrant eyes, her shy smile, her delicate, warm frame.  Her laughter, her tears...her memory.

     Her soul.

     With force, I tear my mana from hers, and the ice fades away all at once, leaving behind a living, breathing girl.

     I open my inventory and take out her rapier and sheath, lying it on the ground next to her.

     “Live.”  I whisper, before leaning forward and resting the lightest kiss on her lips.  It’s a very bittersweet one, I think, as I stand, looking back one more time before running away.

     My heart feels freer, now, even though the cost of Lindsey’s life was Morena’s.  I couldn’t take both...so I picked, subconsciously, letting Morena slip away.  My friends would never forgive me if they knew...so I vow that they never do.  It will be my darkest secret, past the True Battle Trance.

     Ilya was right.  Hatred isn’t the answer.  But what is?  What is your secret, Ilya?

     I hope you’ll show me, one day.  I’m tired of fighting, but I’ll continue, if only to escape this world of hell.

     I can’t wait.

**  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of Journey's End as you know it. Part II will come...look out for it, if you liked it.
> 
> Support the author by leaving a comment. He would appreciate it a lot.

**Author's Note:**

> Character stat charts now exist! Be warned: if you are not up to date with the series, character spoilers exist so do not click unless completely up to date (or you don't mind potential spoilers!)
> 
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AvnfbBTAg7SxZkUncdcq4bUJsnFMCIPA7CHtarE07Eo/edit


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